Christmas-Part II

While we didn’t get to actually see Daniel and Tawni on Christmas, we did get to see them today. They had some presents to receive as well as some to give. In fact, they timed their arrival very carefully based on what they had selected for Malia. They gave her fifty-five rubber ducks, but they didn’t just give them to her in a box, they hid them all over the house. That meant that they needed someone to get Malia out of the house for a while. Nathan was their accomplice and he was funny about it. He put “crime” as an event on his calendar so that he would remember that he was taking Malia up to visit Kevin’s mom, thereby getting her out of the house long enough for Daniel and Tawni to arrive and hide half a hundred ducks. 😂 Upon her arrival home, Malia was less than thrilled but a good sport nonetheless when she discovered that she was going to have to hunt down her Christmas present. As of now, she has discovered forty-five and there are no others in obvious locations. This might take her a while. 😉

Daniel and Tawni got me a book I’ve been wanting. It’s basically a chemistry of cooking book so I’m excited to dig into that. Nathan got a plush microwaveable dumpling. Which he was thrilled about. And of course, he had to go pop it in the microwave right away. And Kevin received a set of decals for one of the models he is working on. In addition to the Doctor Who Little People for Daniel that I bought as an impulse purchase because it made me laugh, we had several humorous T-shirts for Tawni, some itty-bitty polyhedral dice and of course, the gift of cow for both of them. Which gave them both context for the comments and deleted video that happened on Christmas. 

We spent the evening playing games, which was fun. We love board and card games and got a new one for Christmas (The Bears and the Bees) that I think is already one of Malia’s new favorites. And after Kevin and I bowed out due to age and needing to work towards bed, the kids played some raucous rounds of Five Crowns. I’m so glad that all of them get along so well. The only missing piece this evening was Matthew, and in about a year and a half, he will be back in the thick of things.

So delayed Christmas was fun. And it made me feel a bit better about the quiet Christmas. With Tawni’s extended family living fairly close, delayed Christmas was an option and I’m very grateful. I know that the older set of kids could well end up living far away from here, and so I’m glad for any time that we get with them. And who knows? Maybe living far away will mean Kevin and I traveling for Christmas at some point in the future.