Christmas Day

We all agreed that this was the best Christmas yet. All the kids were at the perfect ages to really understand and get excited about Christmas - and I'm not just talking about the getting presents part. They really "got" the idea of giving to each other as a way of giving to Jesus, the real reason for the season. They were SO excited about doing the "Children for Children" concert with their friends and raising so much money (see post about this for more details). We all loved visiting a huge display of nativity scenes from around the world and going to the Live Nativity play at Tuachan. The twins were enamored with anything about "Baby Jesus" and put on a Nativity play with their little Joy School friends for their parents (see photos in previous post). The kids were all SO excited to pick out presents for each other. Liza and Isaac insisted on spending quite a bit of their hard-earned money to buy a Rubiks cube for Ashton (which has proved to be his constant companion). Ashton and Isaac snuck away from me at the store to pick out some decadent dark chocolates for me (my favorite) and did the check out on their own to ensure I wouldn't see what they'd picked out. They were all so excited when it was time to GIVE their presents, not just get them.

The kids managed to sleep (or at least stay in their rooms) until 7am and then sang to us on the stairs to wake us up. We joined them to open their stockings and share in the glee over candy and toothbrushes and all that good stuff.

Ollie and Si got reindeer antlers in their stockings which gave them quite a thrill.

Then it was time to head into the living room so they all lined up:
The first big surprise of Christmas was SNOW. We actually had a white Christmas! Something we may never see again in St George! What a fun surprise for everyone to come into the living room and find not only their hoped-for prizes from Santa but also the world coated in white outside. Check out the scene as we entered the living room!
The kids had SO much fun with all their Santa gifts.

We all stayed in our new Christmas PJs all day long and played, played, played - with an occasional break for eating. Here they are with the traditional eggs benedict:
Ashton and Jared spend ALL day putting together Ashton's cherished "K'nex Motorized Madness Ball Machine." I have to say it's quite an impressive machine! Really fun to build, really fun to watch, REALLY lot of little parts (2000+)! I can see why it was the hot toy of the year and was being sold on ebay at 3x its regular sale price. Thanks to Jonah for helping Santa find an affordable one!
Isaac roller bladed with his new gear from Santa (and new roller blades courtesy of a great DI find by Jonah and Ana) in the garage thanks to the snow outside and had a great time helping the twins with their new airplane set and his own little set of K'nex that Santa gave him as a bonus.
Eliza used her new art set non-stop all day - and every day since then. She can't get enough of drawing and painting and using stickers and coloring. And she was thrilled that presents from her grandparents and cousins seemed to magically fit her art theme - playdough, coloring books, etc.

Ollie and Si absolutely loved their new Geotrax airplane set that connects to their beloved Geotrax train set from last year. All the boys had fun switching the tracks around and creating a whole Geotrax world. Then when they opened a huge new tub of Lincoln Logs from Grandma and Grandpa, they added in a town of log houses around the thing. So fun!
I think my favorite part of Christmas day was watching the kids give their presents to each other - great anticipation on the faces of both giver and receiver as the present is opened then big hugs and thanks once the wonderful object has emerged from the wrapping.

Silas so pleased about a slinky from Isaac in his favorite color - blue

Oliver excited about giving some pretty cool little airplanes to Ashton

The twins were so happy to find some puzzles to give Isaac -
he LOVES puzzles lately and they remembered that.

Liza thrilled about moon sand from Ashton and Isaac
(they were so excited when they saw it at the store - said they'd heard her talking all about it)

The number of gifts worked out just right this year. Every year, I think I'm being careful not to buy much but every year, the kids really seem to be done and happy after just a couple gifts and want to just play with a couple things. This year, I think we got it right. Each kid got one wish of their heart from Santa, a couple fun little dollar-store items and candy and oranges in their stockings, an item or two of clothing that they needed from me and Jared (not that thrilling - other than for Liza- but fun to open), a new game for the whole family (Connect 4), a present from their grandparents, a present from a cousin (all the Loosli cousins draw names), and a present from each of their siblings (but some kids went in together on things so they could get something better so that cut down on the # of gifts. So they got like 8 or 9 presents each which made for LOTS of stuff under the tree and felt like a LOT. The kids kept saying "wow - this is more presents than ever before!" Which actually wasn't true - but it felt that way to them since they got to really play with each thing after opening it rather than being urged to open the next thing. We were opening presents, playing with presents, opening presents, playing with presents until quite suddenly it was bedtime and we didn't even have time to play with the last round of presents until the next day!

Jared got some thrilling new clothes and much-needed running shoes plus a CD mix from me and a robotic arm like the one he used to have a kid (the kids loved using it with him) - you've got to get a toy for Christmas, even when you're an adult. Oh, and I think his favorite gift was a "Ped-Egg" - he's been gleefully showing me his newly smoothed out, once-cracked and horrible heels. He did get a little carried away with the thing and had to tiptoe around a bit (like the twins) after shaving off maybe a little TOO much skin on those heels.

I got exactly what I asked for - not that much. I just really didn't need anything or want much. Christmas is really about the kids for me. But Jared surprised me with some thoughtful items I really needed but didn't really know I needed and a marvelous list of 100 things he loves about me. That was my best gift. I love "made" gifts so much more than "bought" gifts.