Thankfully the kids slept in a little, but when they did wake up it was with full "Santa came" excitement.
Well, Olivia anyways. I think Logan was a little confused.
"You got Superman, Buddy!"
At this point she realized she had Rapunzel and not Emily and she made us pause so that she could go and get her!
Christmas magic!
After seeing their Santa gifts, they dug into their stockings.
Last year there was a lot of craziness going on as they both opened gifts. I decided we weren't going to do that this year. I wanted Olivia to pay attention to who gave her what gift, and to thank the appropriate person. Instead of just ripping into all of the gifts and not having a clue who they came from. Plus, I don't know about the rest of you, but this mom puts a lot of time and effort into making Christmas memorable and I didn't want the morning over in 6 seconds flat. So I made them sort out all of the gifts and take turns opening one present at a time.
Of course they each got a movie from us. It's tradition! This year, Olivia got Aladdin. It's one of the only princess movies she didn't have. Logan got Finding Dory--my one Black Friday deal. ;)
They also both got swim goggles and diving toys, because they go swimming each week and love it.
They got lots of fun presents from Grandma.
Since Olivia didn't get the big Ariel lego castle, Logan got her a small Ariel lego set. She was thrilled!
We got them both a pair of slippers too. Are you catching a theme? We did traditions (movie and ornament), needed (goggles), practical (slippers), and educational (a book). I'm sure our children are ever grateful for grandparents. ;)
His favorite gift!
Olivia forgot that she asked for a telescope, and the was extra excited when she opened it and got one!
We love, love, love magna tiles, so magformers with wheels should be fun!
Dinosaurs!
Olivia got Logan a Blaze (car) and she was so excited!
After all of the presents were opened, the play began. We ate brunch and watched one of their new movies. Then we played games. Olivia got a few different card/board games and we gave them all a try. We built lego sets, showed Emily all of her new food, used the cash register, and stuck together magformers.
And Logan drilled and undrilled.
A few days before Christmas, Olivia asked me if I was going to be making them a fun dinner. She said, "I'm sure you can. You know, like how you made that fun Halloween dinner. If you can make one for Halloween, then you can make one for Christmas too." I'm not going to lie... reindeer sandwiches sounds like a much better option than slaving over a ham/turkey/roast. So that's what we did. The kids had this and Michael and I had a meat and cheese platter. Plus, Dr. Pepper reindeer floats for everyone!
Memory made!
Yummy!
After dinner we did round two of board games. Then we settled in to movie #2 before heading to bed. It was a pretty low key day, but the kids loved it. That's what it's all about!
Gigi (my grandma) sent them some money to pick something out. We chose to go to the movies as a family, so that was a fun treat.
Grandma and Grandpa Hartman sent money for memberships. We maximized our dollars by using Groupon. So now we have a membership to The Heard Science Museum, a few passes to their favorite indoor play place, and we paid for the extended version of the Starfall app (educational!) on their kindle. It's one of Olivia's favorite apps, and she has basically exhausted the free section of it. Who am I to argue? It's all educational! Win/win!
And they still have some Target gift cards from Grandma and Grandpa Gjertson. We're going to let the dust settle (i.e. let the crazy clearance shoppers be done) and then take them in to pick something out. This will be a real treat for them, because we aren't the kind that buys them a toy every time we go to the store. In fact, we almost never buy them stuff. We look, and they are content with that. So actually getting to take something home will be a big deal!
So that was our Christmas. It fit our family just right. On to the next holiday....
No comments:
Post a Comment