Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful day! Nothing better than being at home together with my family!
We didn't discuss yesterday what time we would get up, but I felt like I was awake most of the AM hours smelling the porkloin that was in the crockpot. Around 5:30, Jeremy told me to stay in bed and went to talk with the kids. They had set an alarm for the middle of the night, and they were all going to get up and put presents under the tree. Their alarm didn't go off. Sylvia said she felt like she spent half the night awake waiting for it to go off any second. So at 5:30, they all snuck (as quietly as possible on our squeaky old wood stairs) down and put presents under the tree for me. So sweet. I stayed in bed and pretended to be asleep until after 6:00.
I got up and put some cinnamon rolls in the oven, and we had those quickly before Jeremy read the Christmas story from Luke 2.
Stockings are always first. This year, they were filled with pencils, erasers, lemon Ice Breakers gum, stretchy gloves, nail clippers, and strawberry candies.
The kids requested no pictures, and I didn't fight them too much. It was really hard not to take pictures or video, but I remember not wanting pictures taken in pajamas and without makeup and hair done.
They had me open presents first, and they were more excited to give me gifts than anything else today! They had a lot of fun shopping with their daddy, and he bought everything they asked to buy for me. I feel very spoiled!!!
I received a new set of pots and pans. They are beautiful, and I can't wait to clean out the cupboard of old falling apart lids and start using these. They also gave me a nice red Kitchen Aid hand mixer, a pour shield for my stand mixer, and 2 nice drying racks.
For my birthday, they had given me a super soft flannel shirt, and when they asked me how I liked it I had jokingly told them I wanted 12 more because I liked it so much. Today they gave me 5 more! I can wear one almost every day. And (my brother will get this) they will keep me warm in the winter a cool in the summer. Hahaha.
I had actually told them I wanted those things, but I was most surprised when I opened a new camera! Ours hasn't been working right since spring, but I didn't really plan to spend the money to get a new one. The kids said Jeremy picked it out and bought it earlier in the week when they suggested the idea to him, and it had been under Sylvia's for several days. I sure didn't suspect that one! They spoiled me for sure.
Jeremy had the biggest box to open. It was pillows.
I got him some lifting shoes that he had been wanting, but hadn't wanted to spend the money on himself. I also got him and Caeden some Cleatskins for their wrestling shoes so they don't have to take them off every time they step off the mat.
The kids each got flashing Rudolph noses in their stockings!
There is a story behind these little guitars...Sylvia had gotten one as an "award" from a drum major during band camp last summer. It is a plastic guitar with plastic strings from the dollar store. It roams around our house, and every time Annah or Caeden walk by it they pick it up and play it. Annah has spent time "tuning" it more than once! Sylvia doesn't really play with it, but spends most of the time telling Annah or Caeden to put it down. So, while I was at the Dollar Tree last week picking up wrapping paper and stocking stuffers, I decided to get one for Annah and one for Caeden. Now we have 3 annoying twangy plastic guitars that get picked up and played with several times a day!
I did insist on pictures with the guitars and Rudolph noses after presents were opened.
Caeden received some Star Wars pajamas and lots of Lego Dimensions packs, and the girls received the gift of getting to redecorate their room during break! They can't wait to get started tomorrow!
In the aftermath of the presents mess, the girls gave me another gift--playing Christmas duets together. It was so beautiful, and I loved it!!!
I love to cook for my family. For our Christmas lunch, we ate the yummy porkloin that had roasted in the crockpot all night. We had mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, orange carrots, and peach and pumpkin pies. And we had a crockpot of wassail going all day too. Yum, yum!
This afternoon we played more Tenzi--all 5 of us! It's one of the very few games that all 5 of us enjoy playing. It's a fun and easy game where each player gets 10 dice. For regular Tenzi you roll all your dice until the first person gets all 10 dice on the same number. There's also a deck of cards that have a variation of the game on each one.
These are the moments I cherish the most. I recently read something about how the "big" moments of life (like concerts, prom, sports events--things that other people see us do) aren't necessarily the most important...we grow up and grow together in the small moments of life like wiping away tears of heartache, helping each other with a project, and spending time together at home. I love that. They truly are the most precious moments. Today was filled with a lot of special simple moments. I'm so grateful.
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