The children began to stir around 8:30 on Christmas morning. We were a busy household from that point on as we checked to see if Santa had made it to our house this year.
It appeared that he had made his visit. There were presents under the tree; more than we had left there ourselves the night before!
The stockings were stuffed, all ten of them while the cookies and milk were gone. The Santa key was left on the table by the empty plate but the gingerbread houses were still in tact, to Kaitlyn’s relief.
Somehow our kittens waited until Christmas morning, found their own presents under the tree and unwrapped them and went crazy over their very own Christmas mice. They left Sara’s untouched, however. What smart, funny kitties!
Sandy claimed her own. Kaitlyn and I made these Christmas mice together during December, a whole litter of them in fact. She was particularly helpful with stuffing them. They are supposed to be made by up-cycling men’s worn clothing but we thought they looked cute for the occasion using some Christmas fabric from my scrap bin. The felt, rick-rack, ribbon, stuffing and yarn are also scraps saved from other projects. Obviously the catnip was fresh.
My five children lined up on the stair case in order of age to go down to the living room. I hated doing this growing up, probably since I was always last, but now we do the same thing. It makes good sense in my grown up mind but I make a conscious effort not to make it seem like punishment to anybody.
The children were excited with all of the gifts under the tree. They all thought that under the tree was already full the previous night as we put our gifts to each other under the tree along side the gifts from a few boxes that had arrived in the mail. Now Santa had come too!
Kaitlyn commented on how much she loved the Mickey Mouse paper Santa had wrapped her gift in.
Each of my kids received a new outfit or a shirt from Santa. Kaitlyn’s had butterflies and cats. Nathan’s had cute frogs. I probably just like frogs because of my youngest brother but they really are cute!
Tristan got a button down shirt to wear to church. Lindsay got a game.
Kaitlyn got a new story about one of her favorite characters and Haley loved the shirt she got.
Kaitlyn got a box of pink Legos which she had been hoping for. Now she won’t have to be granted permission from her big brother to build all that her big imagination and little hands can put together. All the children got a picture book to share containing the the story of The Wizard of Oz and somewhere the movie arrived at our house as well from Santa.
Tristan was thrilled to receive a new pillow since he’s been sleeping with one that the washer tried to eat a few months ago when I thoroughly cleaned all of the beds and bedding again. He wasn’t too sure about receiving a box of diet coke in the mail!!! I reminded him that you “never trust a box” EVER! He was not disappointed.
Tristan was very thoughtful this year with his gift giving. He gave both older girls a homemade CD each. Lindsay got a CD with her favorite Justin Beiber songs while Haley received a CD with her favorite Taylor Swift songs that he downloaded. The thing that cracked us up was that Tristan had done his own artwork to design a case cover for both CD’s AND made a poster for each of the girls of their pop star. Wrapped up, you couldn’t have guessed that the gift was a CD either and the drawings are adorable. Nicely done! They loved it.
Nathan got a whale pillow. Haley got an outfit from Santa from Justice… her favorite store where once in a while she can still find something in her size.
Santa brought Nathan waffle blocks, one of his favorite toys at playgroup. And Lindsay gave him a lion to keep him company and to say “ROAR”… which he immediately did. Nathan was happy.
Lindsay was pleased with her homemade bag of forbidden treats to hurry and eat before the braces go on… gummy bears, popcorn and gum. Tristan was thrilled with his Star Wars Lego set that eventually emerged from the coke box. He was so excited.
Haley got some new socks that match some shirts that she has. She loves loves loves the crazy patterns and mix of colors. And Lindsay had given her an extra journal she had since Haley was completely out of journal space and was wishing for a new one. That was thoughtful too.
More good children… Santa brought Nathan his very own boy baby doll to play daddy to. He has spent an awful lot of time chasing down Kaitlyn’s baby doll so now he has his own to feed, carry and give kisses to. Lindsay got a new running outfit from Santa… a little cooler for upcoming springtime runs than her fleece. This child has outgrown all her other running pants but hand-me-downs fall off of her so this was a good gift.
Kaitlyn got one of her favorite books to check out of the library from Mom. This was one of many finds I picked up at a second hand store for Christmas this year. Nathan got right to work taking care of his baby.
Lindsay got a special book from her Grammy which she loves and I gave her the Nurse Matilda book which Nanny McPhee is based off of. We went to see that movie in the theater a few years ago, just the two of us, and we loved it. Perhaps I’ll get to read it too when she’s done.
Tristan made Haley the NOEL banner and Kaitlyn will have to learn how to play the game of Cootie now. That will be a lot of fun.
Spooky climbed into a warm lap and asked Lindsay to help him unwrap his other special present… a cat mat I made with kitty fabric on one side and jungle fleece from my bin on the other. It will fit in the carrier if folded in half to make for a softer warmer ride to the vet.
Tristan got a book about Mt. St. Helens from his parents (he’s very interested in volcanoes) while Nathan was absorbed reading a new Pookie book from his cousins.
Rick received a calendar reminding us of all the beautiful places and people we love and reminding us which direction to go whenever we take our next vacation. Nathan and Kaitlyn gave their daddy a musical Snoopy and Woodstock. They had loads of fun singing with it up and down the supermarket isles several weeks back when they spied it to take the place of their Dad’s caroling mouse who will rarely sing to them anymore. Rick loves the Peanuts and the kids love buttons that make noise so this fits the bill perfectly.
Girls loved their t-shirts from Max, Sophie and Calvin.
The twilight necklace her Aunt made her combined with the t-shirt she got persuades Haley that perhaps she may need to start reading a new set of books.
Tristan is having the best kind of day. No, he is not disappointed.
Lindsay gave Kaitlyn Liona the Lion which Kaitlyn finds adorable and tucks into bed next to her each night now. And for Tristan she forwarded her school T-shirt which she is finally outgrowing but he is just fitting into now.
Daddy gave Kaitlyn a Schoolhouse Rock DVD and a fun game for playing on Sundays.
Santa brought a set of Toy Story Legos for Tristan and Mommy gave Nathan a bug puzzle.
Santa had to have brought Lindsay this T-shirt from her wish list. Her Dad and I said we would never buy her one of those. She is thrilled. Nathan enjoyed unwrapping his presents this year.
Rick got the game Qwirkle, another brain game, from Santa and he got a hot pad for the kitchen to help replace one of the few that he set on fire last fall. We’ve been sort of desperate for hot pads since then.
Kaitlyn received a special “Cordy-Roy” cat with a matching bag to ride around town in from her Grammy. Cordy Roy got bundled up with Bitty Sunday morning for church while the bag became a carry-all to keep the three entertained during our meeting. And the cuddly cat is nearby this little girl at night time too.
How cute is Doodle??? Nathan loves Doodle and the cute story book about him as well. The first time Nathan heard the name “Doodle” he got a huge smile and now if you ask him to go find his “Doodle” he does! Nathan also enjoys a new Scripture Story book to add to the collection that’s been passed down to him. He loves looking for and pointing to Jesus.
Nathan and his baby doll got matching flannel rag blankets that I made last week partly from scraps of baby blankets made for cousins earlier in the year.
Kaitlyn was very excited to give her Bitty the present that she spent several weeks working on. Kaitlyn had the idea that her baby needed to be warm when going outdoors in the cold and she wanted her to have a coat. So we dug around the pattern box and found an old pattern that must have come from my grandma based on the price tag I saw and then we found some pink flannel in my scrap bin and got to work. Kaitlyn was helpful with picking out fabric, pinning pieces together and stitching rosebuds with a needle and thread. Then we washed and ironed it and I gave it to her to wrap up and keep track of.
Didn’t Kaitlyn do a lovely job sewing the rosebuds onto this cloak? And it’s so cute!
Rick was surprised by a beautiful LDS Christmas Songbook. The illustrations are gorgeous, there are stories for each song and a good mix of fun songs tossed into the mix as well. Nathan got a Paddington bear to add to his bear collection that he loves along with a Paddington board book.
More mind puzzles for Rick’s brain from my sister-in-law. Kaitlyn found a sweet little necklace in her stocking with her birthstone and it reads “I am a Child of God”.
A calendar for two girls to argue over and I got a sweet book from my Mom and Dad with lots of stories, recipes and activities; a celebration and recollection of motherhood along with a little handmade purse in my favorite colors. Kaitlyn found me reading one of the stories in the book so I began to read it aloud to her. Soon I was surrounded by several children who wanted to listen to the story of “The Frog Prince”. The illustrations are precious.
Nathan was happily busy on Christmas morning.
Sandy was also presented with her own special cat mat with different kitty fabric from her brother’s but just as soft. Kaitlyn got another game to play.
Nathan played. Spooky played. Rick and I got our Christmas brunch on the table.
Haley got a book about the YW values from her Mom. Nathan got a pair of frog shoes to go with his outfits but which may need to be mailed to a cousin with smaller feet!!!
After spending a wonderfully fun morning by the Christmas tree we went to have our brunch. Kitties took advantage of calmer, quieter moments in the house and hunted around to see if they’d missed any Christmas mice that Santa may have left them. -Merry Christmas!
