Before I get back to Christmas, I just want to say one thing. It’s a pretty sad state of weather affairs when I have to wait until it’s 21 degrees to go running, because that’s the warmest it’s going to get for the day. The end.
Christmas:
The kids didn’t beat me awake this year on Christmas morning, as I can rarely sleep past 7:00 a.m. in my old age. However, it wasn’t much past 7:30 when Charlotte and Elijah came pounding up the stairs. Within 45 minutes, Jeremy and Jeff were both awake, and every last present was opened.
It was quite the whirlwind.
The kids spotted their unwrapped Santa gifts on the hearth and were suitably amazed. Charlotte asked for the Lego City Police Station, Elijah wanted four Bionicles, and Santa delivered. Poor Jeremy didn’t get a stocking or a Santa gift this year. You can blame that on two older siblings. After all, if what the baby really wants are gift wrap, bows, and boxes, why bother with a cool stocking and a Santa gift?!
One favorite stocking item was a personal book light. Our kids love to read in the car whether it’s dark or not, so these save us from having flashlights bouncing around in the back, inciting panic in whoever is driving, since it always looks as if a car is bearing down on us. Elijah actually asked for one of these and was thrilled when he unwrapped it!
The kids also got their final piece of tae kwon do gear and gigantic monogrammed bags for all of their equipment. Here they are showing the former off.
Jeremy was very sleepy, so it took him awhile to get into the whole gift-opening thing.
Nerf guns were the gift of choice around our house this year, from both our girl and our boy. If you remember, this would be Elijah’s second Nerf gun this Christmas.
Charlotte thought that Humphrey and our guinea pig guest Oreo would like to join us for Christmas. Jeremy also thought that was a fabulous idea! He liked the guinea pig better than his Christmas gifts, although he warmed up to his stuff eventually.
Here I am with my gifts from the kids: a pair of running sunglasses (although I wear them everywhere else, too), a chef’s apron from their tae kwon do academy, and a big, Sam’s-sized box of chocolate-covered pretzels.
But where I really cleaned up this Christmas was my gift from Jeff: a Kindle! I was initially reluctant when he asked me about it because I do truly love actual books. However, I quickly discovered that I can now carry around 30 books in a piece of equipment the size of a skinny notebook, and that rocks. Amazon also has lots of free books, with new ones every day, and I can get them in about 30 seconds. So, now, I’m sold out on the Kindle. I think I’ve paid full price for two books, $2.99 or less for several more, and nothing for the balance.
As a side note to this…over the past year, I’ve done a massive book purge. Stuff that I know I’ll never read again? I donated it to the library. Stuff that I know I SHOULD never read again and that I would be horrified for my daughter to pick up and read? I loaded it into a large box and took it to the library. The funny thing about that particular box is that it wasn’t loaded well in the car, and about a dozen of those books landed in a mud puddle outside the library. I’m guessing those are the ones that no one else should be reading either!
God moves in a mysterious way. And I actually have Jim Powell, our pastor at Richwoods Christian Church, to thank for that particular book purge. He preached a sermon some months back in which he shared his personal experience with purging once he chose to follow God. Jim kept repeating, “I just can’t do this anymore” or something like that. He was talking about music, acquaintances, and how he chose to spend his time. But God convicted me that it also applied to what I chose to put in my mind.
Therefore, some dearly loved and long-time residents of my bookshelf found themselves ignominiously dumped. It took awhile for it to feel good, but I honestly don’t miss any of them.
Well, I’m off in the grass, so I guess I’ll get back to Christmas!
Jeff got a Keurig coffee maker from me this year. He picked it out himself, but that’s OK! It makes single cups of coffee, and it’s the type that uses little individual plastic containers of ground beans, so you can have a different flavor with every cup. It also brews tea and hot chocolate. Very cool!
Gift opening ended with the kids declaring this year “the best Christmas ever!” Score!
So, this was the first 45 minutes of Christmas Day, and it’s already a rather lengthy post! I’ll tell you about the rest of it next time.
Have a good one.
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