"NO CRAP" was our motto.
No "filler gifts" or trinkets that were going to end up in the toy box or thrown around the house within a few days.
We grilled the boys about 100 times over the last 2-3 months on what they REALLY, REALLY wanted for Christmas. I think they each wrote letters to Santa in November. (Tubbs of course made several addendums to his list and wrote a new letter each time.) Nevertheless, we really worked hard to track what we each bought and spent on them.
Something else we did was we bought fewer gifts for the boys. In the past we would buy them misc. items off their lists and then we say label them from whomever in the family. So they might end up with 2-3 gifts from mommy and another 2-3 from daddy. This year the kids each received one gift from everyone. It made the shopping EASIER and cheaper. I think we did really good sticking to our "plan."
(Luke did have to make an impromptu Christmas Eve trip back to Target to return some items that the boys located in our bedroom closet. They were organizing Luke's shoe rack in a last ditch effort to make sure they were on the good list! Since they were "stocking" items, they had to go back. :)
For the second year in a row instead of keeping a paper list, I used an app on my phone. Every time we would buy something I could track who it was fo, how much I spent and where I bought it. It also let Luke and I track how much was spent so far on each kid. Lucky for me, my kids (who like to play with my phone) don't know it exists.
Ok....on to the big day!
Why is it, when you WANT your kids to wake up early, they sleep in? At around 7am they finally came running down the hallway and we could hear their feet scuffle on the wood floor. I wish I could have recorded their trembling voices tell us what Santa brought. Tubbs was shaking! I love it!
We couldn't wait to see the boys find their stocking and Santa gifts this year.
Santa does not wrap his gifts at our house and Luke makes labels on the computer.
Tubbs REALLY needed new socks, so amazingly Santa brought both the boys socks in their stockings. I am not sure which Tubbs was more excited about...the DSi XL or the socks. This boy cracks me up!
A tetherball from Grandma and Grandpa Hogue
The Montana kids came over and played for a while in their PJ's.
Morgan played with Petunia while I made breakfast. Thanks you Morgan!
Breakfast:
Italian Turkey Sausage Bread and Mama's Cinnamon Rolls!
I even had to take a picture of myself eating it and text it to my brother....because that's what big sisters do! :)
Of course the boys were so excited playing tetherball, they didn't want to come in and eat. But being the gentle,loving mother I am , I forced them to sit down and eat. :)
Petunia got each of the boys a game for Christmas. "Headbanz" and "Apples to Apples."
Big hits!
A new phone for Petunia....so she can call her girlfriends.
It wouldn't be a holiday with a little drama or an injury. Petunia slipped in the bathroom and hit her cheek on the tile step to the shower. OUCH!
She had a nice bruise within seconds.
After breakfast we cleaned/packed up and went to Grandma and Grandpa Hogue's house in Bear Valley for Christmas dinner.
The boys each got a lap desk with their name on it. They loved it.
The kids and their cousin Kylee.
Luke's sister Jenny and brother, Jake
Dessert!!
So good I had to take a picture of all the cupcakes, lemon bars and cake balls. Holy Cow!
Merry Christmas! We love you.
2 comments:
Looks like a great Christmas! I love your No Crap rule. We have simplified and ruled out "Plastic"- any little plastic toy, with lots of parts... but when it comes to stockings, I give in. Next year- NO CRAP.
I love that socks were the big hit on Christmas morning. So funny.
I'm sad it's all over. I just told my kids today, "Only 11 1/2 more months until Christmas!" Such a great time of year.
I know this is way late, but your picture of the cinnamon rolls reminded me how amazingly good those things are! Thank you for bringing some to me amidst all the December madness. I know money isn't supposed to buy happiness, but if money can buy your cinnamon rolls, then it can buy happiness for me.
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