My Goodness Christmas

Every single year my husband and I say we want to have a more modest Christmas.   We don't plan on getting the children loads and loads of presents—they don't need them.   We give them, ahem I mean Santa gives them, one present each.  It's a large present or set of things that go together, but that's it.   Then we plan on getting them something from us.   That's our plan.  

Christmas turns out to be much bigger than we thought it would be every year though.   Santa brought my son one thing, a video game system.   And my daughter got some stuffed animals that danced and sang Christmas songs.   Hers was fairly inexpensive, his will be enjoyed by my husband as well, who will also play video games on the system. 

We got my daughter a cotton candy machine from us (something I always wanted myself) and my son some hardware for his computer.   I got the family a domino set for toppling dominoes.   We have some dominoes already and this set adds interesting things we can do to make the runs do fun things other than just fall over. 

Our Christmas was bigger because of the wonderful family and friends we have.   They sent my children presents and the things they sent my children loved.   My son is all about clothes right now.  There is a colored sweatshirt he wanted, and specifically, he wanted multiple patterns of that same sweatshirt.   He got them and he is thrilled about that as well as the San Francisco sweatshirt from his aunt.   There were lot of presents for my daughter that she could touch and play with.   She was very happy all day. 

So Christmas was more material and commercial than we expected, but it was from love.   And the children loved Christmas and all their presents today. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son was manic this morning, wanting to be involved in the handing out of the presents.  He seemed very cool before Christmas proper started, but when it got in full swing, he was just as excited as his sister was. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was in control of the presents, and she took her job seriously.   When we didn't move along quickly enough or if someone hadn't had a present in a while, she was on the job.   I think she liked having the ability to contribute to the day instead of wondering what was happening all around her, like last year's Christmas.   It was empowering to her to know what most of the presents were, as she had helped me wrap and label the majority of them.