The Christmas Post

{I have had a nasty cold since Christmas Eve, which passed on to Evan and finally Chloe by the end of the week.  The three of us have been living in a fever-y uncomfortable fog for over a week and seem to be just on the way out of it now.  Sorry for the delay in posting and for the pathetic picture quality.  I was not myself on Christmas morning, and still don't feel quite right, but better late and pitiful than not at all....}

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Christmas Morning!

This year, we filled a stocking for the kids and boy were they thrilled at the novelty of it all!  Quickly, they dumped it and separated everything into piles:  things like gum, fun-printed bandaids, fruit leathers, bright colored pens and playing cards.  (These two really love gum.)

They each got a long stuffed snake and a beanie baby kitten to add to their families.  These toys ended up being their favorites out of all!

As soon as the new animals were opened they ran to their room and grabbed armfuls of old animals to bring out and play with.


For Evan, we stuck mostly with his "usuals"...  a Transformer, a Star Wars ship and a really big Lego-type building set called Remote-Controlled Machines.  He also asked for some mind-bender puzzles which he is still puzzling over.

For Chloe, we focused on crafty things for her horses like a pack of bright colored fabric and embroidery floss to make horse blankets, and a pack of modeling clay for making horse accessories. We also got her a sparkly pegasus foal, a monster truck and a magnetic marble set.   Since she asked for another chess game this year, we found her a magnetic and metallic travel set which she LOVED!  It's tiny and sparkly!

Ruby was in on the action from the moment the fun began, of course.

We got the kids some "shared" gifts this year: a large Magnext set, a beautiful solar system puzzle and a vintage Spirograph set.  The only problem with shared gifts was the amount of arguing over who got to open them.... we'll have to plan that better in the future.  Their fussing was soon forgotten once they started playing with them.

The Spirograph set is a close second place favorite to the stuffed animals.  Everyone enjoyed it, especially Todd!

Evan and Chloe bought each other a four foot long wooden cobra snake.  They both want to paint them in rainbow stripes so the painting process is slow-going.

Chloe loved working with her clay this week and seems to have a real talent for it.  Her dainty fingers can create the tiniest details.  She made tons of horse food already

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We were able to spend our morning together, then some time Skyping with Gramma and the family in North Carolina in the afternoon, and finally had my mom over to play with the kids between lunch and dinner.

Everyone (except me) had lasagna and played all day, and nobody (except me) wanted to go to sleep when bedtime came around.  Christmas is always exhausting in the best sort of way!

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