Merry, Merry Christmas

Christmas morning has come and gone. 
 All the preparations were made and totally undone in a matter of minutes. I was in the kitchen putting monkey bread in the oven and attempting to fix a cup of coffee and I could hear them rustling paper! Wait for your mother! This year there were no daily events. No Christmas countdown. We were too busy to keep up with that this year. Basketball is life has been the motto for the past 2 months, of course immediately following the 3 months of football is life!

The children woke up to this vast assortment of gifts that Santa left for them. Not quite sure how Santa got that kayak down the chimney, but no one seemed to question that. We are still enjoying their innocence when it comes to this whole Santa thing. One day they'll be smart enough to figure it all out or they'll have some punk kid at school spoil it all for them. Or I'm going to just slip, as I've done several times today, and admit that I bought all the gifts that were fab and worked great. That one gift that is missing a piece - that's all on this Santa guy.

The gifts are opened. Their faces are filled with smiles, at least temporarily. As with most things, the newness will wear off and they'll be the dreaded B word - - Bored! Today, I can't blame them much since it's pouring down rain outside and they're trapped inside.

Harper loves a microphone! Maybe she'll live up to her name and be the next musician of the bunch. I posted a little video of her singing a very non-Christmas song on FB earlier today. She's a ham!

 

These two have been more excited over a basketball goal that hangs on the door than anything else they opened. At least, it has kept them occupied for the longest today. I just hope the door survives the body slams it gets from these intense 1 on 1 contests. I keep asking everyone what that noise is and then I'm told it's someone playing basketball.

This one...She has had a Shopkins explosion kind of Christmas. What the heck are these Shopkins things and why are they all the rage? I do know I will spend the next few months of my life hunting them down - under furniture, in bags or boxes, or wherever she decides to misplace them! She's also been very interested in all of Harper's fun Doc McStuffins toys and various building block sets.

And this...a kayak! For months Mav Cole talked about wanting a kayak, probably because it was warm outside and some of the neighborhood kids were kayaking in the little lakes around our neighborhood. Then the kayak talk stopped and he started talking about drones and hover boards, which were an obvious not-gonna-happen! So we got him back on the kayak train. Deep down, I know that this kayak means I'm gonna be spending lots of time standing on the side of a lake hoping I don't have to rescue him or whoever is paddling at the time. It also means we'll be buying at least one more of these to minimize the it's not fairs and when is my turns? So kayak purchase, I mean Santa bringing a kayak, holds all kinds of new scenarios for us. Gonna have to work on saying YES, once the weather is warm enough to really enjoy this thing. 

All in all the kids have enjoyed Christmas. In the midst of the hustle and bustle, we do our best to remind them that Christmas isn't about the stuff. It's ultimately about the Christ child who came to earth on a not so silent night so that we could experience fullness in our lives here and forever. May we wake up every day aware of the miracle that was Christ's birth!