To say that Christmas had arrived at my mama's would be an understatement. The amount of presents under the tree was enormous! We barely had a place to walk or sit!
The kids really enjoyed opening all their presents and received a variety of cool gifts. Some of the following were the highlights of the night:
For Cora, the unicorn pillow pet was a huge hit.
Tate was super excited over the skateboard and indoor basketball hoop.
Ben loved his dragon ship and keyboard!
And Ada, well, she was just looking at us all in amazement, wondering what in the world was happening.
After we finished up at my parents, we headed back home to open a few more presents. Craig and I had gotten the kids a few small items, the kids had gotten each other a few items, and then Craig and I exchanged gifts that we purchased for one another on behalf of the kids and each other. It was lots of fun!
Now, for a little back story regarding the kids' gift-giving. This year was the first year that we had "required" the kids to buy something for one another. A couple of weeks ago, I came up with the idea that since they have been earning money that maybe this would be a good year for them to use their own money to buy each other a small ($2-$5) gift. I thought it would be fun for them to pick it out, buy it, etc. I wanted them to also see how much fun gift giving can be so that they would focus on the giving part instead of just the getting part.
Well, when we first told them of the idea, let's just say we weren't greeted with the warm, fuzzy enthusiasm that I had hoped for. It was more like, " What??? We have to spend our own money???"
Tate was the first to come around to the idea. I think it was mainly because he had a lot of saved money so he was thinking he could spare a few dollars for gifts. Ben was having issues because he had a few dollar bills and a $20 bill. He was concerned because he didn't want to spend his $20 bill. Cora told me she didn't want to buy anyone a gift and when I told her that if she didn't buy them a gift that she would not get one from them, she replied, " I don't care. I just buy my own self sumpin". Well, there you have it.
Since they were all so keen on the idea of spending their own money (which in fact was really our money that we gave them for "helping" out), it really made us want them to do it that much more.
I talked with them more about the gift giving concept, and they started to come around. Tate was really excited about it and started to come up with ideas of what to buy each sibling. Ben realized he didn't have to break his $20 so he also became excited about it, especially buying Ada a gift. Cora was a bit indifferent about it all but she didn't complain when I asked her for money.
My original plan was for Craig and I to take turns taking the kids to shop for gifts. Then, everyone started getting sick and we were running out of time. Cora and Tate each gave me money and ideas so that I could shop for them. I was going to pick out Ada's gifs for her siblings. Ben wanted to go shopping with me. So, we went to Wal-mart and he picked out his gifts and paid for them with his hard-earned money. And, I picked out the other gifts for the rest of the kids. I had to be kind of sneaky to get Ben's gifts in the bag without him seeing them and he had a small breakdown because he thought I wasn't buying him anything, but other than that the shopping trip was a success. When we returned home, each of the kids helped me wrap their gifts and label them. At this point, they were really excited about giving a gift to one another. Next year, I want to prepare a bit better. I want each one of the kids to actually go shopping with me, pick out and purchase the gifts. Ben really, really enjoyed that part and I think the others would as well.
Back to Christmas Eve, after we opened presents, we put out cookies and reindeer food, and off to bed we went. Well, some of us put out the cookies and reindeer food, while others were already in the bed. Poor girl just wasn't feeling very well!
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