Malia presented Santa with a rather interesting wish list this year. She requested a drone, a phone, chapter books, a ticket to Legoland, a very specific Lego set, a kiddie sewing kit and a horse. Santa definitely knows us and thankfully he did not bring her a phone or a horse. He did manage to track down the Lego set she had her eye on even though it was no longer being produced and Mrs. Santa helped him fill a sewing box with sewing supplies. The sewing kit was accompanied by a basic sewing skills book and a beginners’ cross stitch kit. Although Malia rushed through the unwrapping in her traditional whirlwind of excitement, she was happy about them all and is excited to start learning to use her sewing accoutrements. Her experience gift for this year will be a ticket to see “The Nutcracker” at the ballet next Christmas. She’s pretty excited!
Matthew has grown up a lot this year so even though he was excited, he was trying hard to be manly about it. His wish list was a lot shorter. There was one certain Lego set he had a hankering for. But it was “big boy Lego,” one of the sets meant for adults, which also means it has many more pieces and a much bigger price tag. As such, he assumed it would not make an appearance beneath our tree because it was too expensive, but he lucked out because Santa decided he was worth the expenditure. And in my opinion (and hopefully Santa’s), his reaction to the gift made it completely worth the cost. Matthew also gets to go to Autorama in the spring. He has developed an intense interest in cars over the past year so a car show will be a perfect fit for him.
Santa brought Nathan a board game that he played with his cousins many times over the summer. I know he doesn’t look excited at all, but he really likes the game, I promise. Kevin and I have started focusing on the experience gifts for our older boys since the experiences they want are much more expensive, so from us he received the money to fund Summersong, a summer music workshop for teens that one of his cousins really enjoyed a few years back. It is an audition only weeklong event so if he auditions and isn’t accepted, we’ll come up with something else.
Once the early flurry of activity was over, Nathan’s new game was the first one we played. He really does like it. See what I mean? (Matthew photobombed this one like a total spaz. I just couldn’t crop him out. It makes me laugh!)
Daniel got a small Lego set from Santa. From us, he gets a trip to New Orleans. The high school band will be traveling to the home of jazz in April. It is a pricey trip so we figured funding it would be a great Christmas gift. He’s totally excited about the trip and doesn’t feel at all shafted by way of Christmas gifts. He’s just looking forward to a brand-new adventure!
This year there were several family experience gifts as well. We will be going on vacation with my folks, my siblings and their families in June and part of our trip will be taking everyone horseback riding. So I guess, in a tiny way, Malia did get a horse for Christmas. 😉 Kevin, the boys and I also got tickets to see “Wicked.” We are all excited about that one!
Grandpa and Grandma joined us for the afternoon and dinner. Grandma has jumped on the experience gift bandwagon and gave Daniel and Nathan money to spend on their adventures this year. Matthew gets to shoot arrows with Grandpa and Grandma at some point. Since Malia isn’t really going on any adventures of her own this year, she got a scooter that lights up. She absolutely loves it and has been riding it around the house all afternoon!
I love these days when everyone is home all day, talking and playing together, enjoying each other’s company. In years to come, I may only get a few days a year to gather my crew around, so for now, I want to take advantage of as many of them as I can.
Merry Christmas to all! Hope your day was as full of family and joy as ours!
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