Monday, December 29, 2008

Our Christmas Story

Hello! How're you? How was your Christmas?

Ours was nice... Pretty much your average family Christmas. We spent most the day in our jammies, watching the kids open presents and then enjoying them. Of course, once the wrapping paper comes off that's only half the job. Have you ever noticed that they package toys like they're on the FBI's most wanted criminals list? Seriously, how many little twisty wires do they really need to hold the thingamabob in place, I ask you! It takes a good 20 minutes just to free the toy from it's cardboard, tape, and wire display. Not to mention you need scissors, a screwdriver, a Swiss made multi-tool and may have to resort to using your teeth to gnaw through some parts just to get the toy out of it's packaging. Meanwhile, you've got an impatient kiddo bouncing from foot to foot and going, "Mom! What's taking so long? Is it out yet?"

But, I suppose any amount of packaging frustration is worth seeing the smiles on your kids faces. And, I guess the one positive about that is that it does prolong the moment. Bree actually shrieked when she opened her "Tini Puppini," (which is basically the puppy version of Barbie, it has cloths and you can do it's hair and stuff). The puppy came with a bone name tag as well. "Her name is Toffee." I told Brianna. She said, "Mom, I don't like that name, can I rename her?" "Sure," I said, "You can call her whatever you like." "Okay," she said, "Her name is... HoHannah!" I don't know where she comes up with them, but the whole naming of the toys is still a fascinating process for me. She actually got another stuffed puppy which she dubbed "Wexkin." I dunno.

Noah's big favorites included an electronic piggy bank with big plastic coins that sings and counts when you put them in, and a little Tonka race track. It was really cute, you just put the cars in place and push one big button to make them race and Noah was really into it, after a few times he was even yelling "Go!" when he pushed the button.

Naturally though, the day wasn't without a few hiccups, like children getting completely overwhelmed and overexcited and trying to share and having complete meltdowns. And then there were a few toys that, while the kids were excited about, we couldn't play with immediately since Mom forgot to stock up on the batteries! Oops! (I actually had to make a run the day after Christmas to grab some batteries and a 100 watt bulb for Bree's new Easy Bake Oven, another oversight by Mom... the devil's in the details!) Actually, the batteries were for toys that I thought I had planned ahead for. See, I thought it would be fun to get the kids a remote control car that they can drive around the house. Especially since we're cooped up more during the winter, I thought this was a brilliant idea. And, to avoid fights, I even got them EACH a "My First Remote Control Car" with big easy buttons, but in different colors so we could tell whose is whose. Alas, there's just no predicting these things. Noah decided he liked the pink one best and kept chasing Bree down, trying to take it from her while she ran and screamed... Maybe I was onto something with the no batteries thing...

But, overall we had a very relaxing and fun few days, just taking it slow and enjoying our kids.

Hope yours was nice!

Oop...gotta run, the kids are fighting over the remote control cars again. No really, I'm not kidding...

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