CHRISTMAS

 

 

So it is January and I am just getting to Christmas! On Christmas Eve we always give the kids their Christmas p.js. I didn't make them match this year because Whitney and Ben hate that. Ben's pants ended up being way too long. The kids loved putting out cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. The kids all slept together in the movie theater so they could fall asleep watching Christmas movies. In the morning they all have to line up on the stairs and go in together. They actually slept until nearly 8:00.

This year I decided I wanted to make some of the gifts for the kids. The first thing we made was an old cupboard that came from Tony's mom.


I wish we had a before picture. It was bright orange and covered in orange contact paper. Tony cleaned and replaced the hardware and sanded and painted it. It now matches her pottery barn kitchen set.

She was so excited. The next thing was a bed for Whitney's American Girl doll.

I bought the bed at Ikea and painted it and then made the bedding. For Sarah I also made a bunny blanket. The final gift I made was books for each of the kids.


It talked about things that I loved about them and strengths I had noticed about them. It was really neat because Ben read all the way through his before he opened any presents. I was worried this year because we have gone way overboard with Christmas in the past and this year we really cut back. A few weeks before I had took a huge load to the D.I of toys that the kids didn't play with and I realized that most of the time I buy stuff that they didn't ask for and hardly play with. This year I decided to only buy what they really wanted and not to worry about all the "filler" gifts. It ended up being about 2/3 less than normal. The kids never said one word about there being less presents and actually expressed more gratitude for what they got. That was the best Christmas present for me! We hung out in our p.j's and played until my family came over for dinner. It was a great day!