I haven't downloaded the photos from the camera yet, so I can't post any here, but I'll try to update this post tomorrow with some photos. I promise they'll be here eventually...
To sum it up, however, if it was Thomas the Tank Engine-related, WHM probably got it. CAM got a bathrobe and slippers, and My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake and books and a cash register and a hopscotch rug that I made with love, and which I am very thrilled to say she knew what it was and skipped a hopscotch on right away. That alone made my day, and it had barely started.
The day started with -- surprisingly -- sleeping in, believe it or not! CAM didn't wake up and burst into our room (her M.O., if you're wondering) until 9. And I was still sleeping soundly, which is crazy as well. Anyway, she had already peeked down from the catwalk -- our sweet girl didn't even sneak downstairs, and that melted my heart a little -- she peeked to be sure that Santa had come and ran to our room, slammed open the door and shouted, "SANTA CAME AND BRINGED MILLIONS OF PRESENTS!!" (Disclosure: Santa brought nine presents per kid. Mommy and Daddy rounded out the other 999,991. Although it sure did feel as though I wrapped all 1,000,000. Thank goodness the elves at least did nine! And yes, we normally correct the "bringed" to say "brought," but she said "bringed" so that's what I wrote.) She was so giddy and excited and it was so much fun to see and enjoy. We have only a few years left of Santa being true and unquestioned, and I love how excited she was. In any event, I had carefully laid out clothes last night so I would be ready to go at whatever hour this morning, but believe it or not, she had no real desire to go downstairs once she informed us that Santa had, indeed, been here -- she was content to snuggle on the bed and watch Shrek on the iPad. Forget that, *I* couldn't let that happen! (And I didn't want the iPad out that early, either.) So I went in and woke -- and really had to wake him -- WHM. And the day began.
WHM was absolutely precious. He "gets it" more this year than ever before, but he still finds one present to open and pretty much stops there. That cracks me up every single time. Conveniently, Mick and I had wrapped all of WHM's gifts in Thomas and Friends paper, and all (well, almost all) of CAM's gifts in Disney Princess paper, and Santa left gifts with name tags, all in Santa paper. So it was easy for the kids to know whose was whose and even WHM could figure that if it was Thomas, it was his. Of course, he wasn't just hung up on his first present; he also needed chocolate milk. He would. not. stop. asking. for. chocolate. milk. So in the middle of the madness of CAM throwing papers everywhere and screaming and oohing and aaahing and WHM wanting to take every unwrapped train out of all of the factory packaging (something I don't do until all the gifts are opened and all the trash away, so we don't inadvertently throw away parts and pieces), I had to pause to make a sippy cup of chocolate milk. What is life if not routine, huh?!
Side note: because CAM is getting older and is both observant and astute, for the first time ever in my life I had to break down and buy Christmas paper before Christmas. Full price! I was so afraid she'd put it together if she recognized paper from my wrapping paper stash, and I wasn't going to add it to my post-travel to-do list to try to hunt down clearance paper. I'm glad we did what we did, buying Thomas and Princess and Santa paper when we did, but that was a personal first for this kiddo, yours truly! I am not cheap, but certain things -- like paying full price for Christmas wrapping paper -- pain me!
One thing that was pretty funny to me as I was wrapping last night was because WHM was getting what amounted to the end-all, be-all motherlode of trains, ALL of his gifts were physically small, and almost identical in size! Note to everyone out there: you can take 37,000 gifts of the same size and make the tree look beautiful and varied by wrapping said identically-sized gifts in shirt boxes, FedEx boxes, leftover Stride Rite shoe boxes, and all sorts of shipping boxes. I stopped short of using the Baldini's sub box, though, don't worry. Poor kiddo, though, would rush to a giant box only to open it and find half a tree's worth of filler and a Thomas train! (If he cared, though, I couldn't tell ...)
Anyway, after presents, we went to lunch as a family and ran some errands at Costco and Publix. Then we got home and played with our new loot and Aunt Courtney and Uncle Dom* arrived, and the day was perfect and lazy and wonderful (and phone/text-message free, because I left my phone upstairs all day!) and all that Christmas should be. We finally ended it after dinner with a giant family game of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Yahtzee, and truly, I couldn't have been happier. Those are the times that make memories, and I love every moment where we get to do something fun as a family (even if Mick did sneak glances over my shoulder to see the Steelers/Broncos game!)
The only bummer of the whole day was that our Comcast music station finally stopped playing their Holiday Traditions programming this morning. And that really stunk, because I tested it yesterday (I love listening to music on the tv instead of tv-drivel-filler) and it was on, and today -- awful techno/new-age junk. Sigh. Not a big deal, but still disappointing, especially since we don't have a stereo hooked up in our living room. We ended up putting on toddler tunes.
Well, this was another long-winded, photo-free post. Thanks for reading along. Tomorrow's a school day and Mick's working, so I am looking forward to some productive empty-house time, but I need to tidy the living room (if I can find the floor) and get organized first, and that means signing off.
Merry Christmas, one last time!
--Jen
*Aunt Courtney and Uncle Dom got me the coolest, comfiest Columbia fleece hoodie. It's a beautiful cream color (which I am sure to get filthy in about 15 seconds), but it just LOOKS amazingly comfortable and when you put it on, it doesn't disappoint! Thanks, guys, I love it!
*Aunt Courtney and Uncle Dom got me the coolest, comfiest Columbia fleece hoodie. It's a beautiful cream color (which I am sure to get filthy in about 15 seconds), but it just LOOKS amazingly comfortable and when you put it on, it doesn't disappoint! Thanks, guys, I love it!
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