I, ahem I mean *Santa,* has never waited this long to shop, wrap, and prepare. There were really a lot more traditions I wanted to start this year, but due to time constraints (that flu, bronchitis, pneumonia really cut into things...and that's on top of report cards, Christmas parties, and a billion other things at that busy time of year), space constraints (yes, we have SO outgrown this house--I had no secret place to wrap presents this year!), and just darn exhaustion, we didn't get to many of them. Reid was really into the holiday spirit this year and it was fun to watch him get excited about everything. Christmas Eve came rather quickly and we hadn't even gotten to bake Santa's cookies. Thankfully, he had decided that his special ones from Ellison's cookie party were just for Santa (and boy, were they delicious!). We did start the reindeer food tradition this year. Reid was so excited to sprinkle it in the backyard.
Reid typically eats dinner as s-l-o-w-l-y as he can and is the world's worst at making bath time and bed time linger on and on, but once we mentioned Santa can't come until he's asleep, things moved at a much more rapid pace. We didn't even have to come in and threaten him or turn off his Christmas lights! He even agreed to read a (gasp!) different story from his Bible...the Christmas story rather than Pharoah's Dream. After making sure he was really asleep, it was on to preparing. Even though I'd tried to do what I could ahead of time, it took until midnight to get things set up. I was quite grateful a couple of fellow moms had mentioned Santa doesn't wrap things at their house, which also solves the problem of keeping Santa wrapping versus Mom wrapping separate, etc.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there...
The children were nestled, all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-somethings danced in this one's head... Or maybe it was just the peppermint lights Buddy, our elf, brought Reid this year!
I heard Reid get up sometime before dawn and go to the restroom, but thankfully he climbed back into bed and eventually went back to sleep. I managed to get up just before he did and turn on all the lights downstairs. He came bursting out of his room and exclaimed, "It's Christmas!!! Did Santa come??" I somehow convinced him to wait upstairs a few minutes while I changed Carter and let Daddy have time to wash his face. Then, he flew downstairs. I'd wanted to be at the bottom to see his reaction, but he beat me!
Reid dove into the presents. Carter, on the other hand, would've been perfectly content to play with the wrapping and boxes. It's the little things in life.
Dixie agreed with Carter and enjoyed the wrapping and boxes, until she discovered that Santa brought her catnip. Don't tell Reid it was several years old. He'd asked specifically if Santa was bringing Dixie a present and why we didn't have a stocking for her (actually, I think I have an old cat stocking in a box somewhere, but Jason had already put all the boxes back up in the attic at that point). No matter...Dixie definitely enjoyed her kitty crack.
Reid was very, very specific about what he wanted from Santa. Items from his list included 12 chocolate candy canes (not so easy to find!), new toys for Carter, Pez and a Frozen dispenser (also not easy to find--thanks, Amazon!), and a new Flat Stanley book. No one had ordered from my December Scholastic book order, so I was afraid I might be out of luck, but thankfully a co-worker had a practically new Flat Stanley...meaning we no longer had to read the Halloween one!! Hallelujah. I think I had that one memorized.
Carter's favorite thing ended up being travel wipes and the dancing Pluto. Pluto, we expected. Travel wipes? Go figure.
Reid also wanted spy gear after he'd seen the spy watch we'd gotten for cousin Henry. This little headband with spy light was a hit. He also wanted Cabbie, from Planes 2 after seeing what we'd gotten cousin Harrison. Maybe next year, I should just order duplicates of whatever the cousins want.
Happy boy with more Planes 2 goodies!
And a super rock crawler remote car. We had fun with it indoors for several cold weeks, then it got to go outdoors, which made it like new again. He's going to have a blast with it in our new, huge backyard at the next house!
Carter seriously would've been fine with the wrapping paper and boxes, but with Reid specifically asking for new toys for him (and I was already imagining the "was Carter naughty?" questions if he didn't have several toys), how could we resist?
He plays with this cute chair every day now when we get home. Didn't have much of a draw until Jason got the batteries installed, then viola!
Until he noticed the cat was headed for the stairs...and the gate was open! We've had to really keep an eye on that, and make sure the gate is closed ALL the way. Little sneaker.
The boys had so much fun on Christmas Day. The biggest present for me was watching how excited they got over their presents. We're so thankful for our newest gift this year, Carter, but most importantly for His gift of His Son.
