December Trip: Christmas

This is the third installment of our December Trip.  After my brother's wedding and visiting some friends and family, we went to my sister Darbie's house in Albuquerque for Christmas.  Derrick and Anika were there too, so we got to know Anika a little better!

Darbie and Chad were great hosts.  The meals were all fabulous.  We had fun playing Boggle and Scrabble and doing yoga after the kids went to bed.  My parents joined us the day after Christmas.  They spent Christmas with Whitney's family who took off for Disneyland the day after Christmas.

Darbie borrowed this great picnic table from her in-laws.  It was perfect for the four kids at mealtimes.  Usually what happened was all the kids took a few bites of their food, then went off to play.  Caleb, then, would go around and eat everyone's food.  That kid has a bottomless stomach!

 Darbie had sugar cookies all ready for the kids to decorate for Santa.  I hope Santa likes sprinkle!

Speaking of Santa, we had managed to go without talk (or explanation of) Santa until a few days before Christmas when we were visiting with the Knoebels.  Santa was the theme of all their pretend play.   The kids would take turns sleeping, and when they were asleep, one of the girls would be Santa and bring them presents.  It was pretty cute.  Eliza caught on quickly to how the whole Santa thing works.  I'm glad she got to learn about Santa from kids.  Unlike other topics that you want to talk about with your kids before their peers do (sex, drugs, etc), I think the Santa topic is much more magical and real coming from kids than from their parents.  So thanks Mandy and Nate for having your daughters introduce Santa to Eliza!

Just for the record, we knew Santa would play some role at Christmas, but we hadn't decided how exactly we wanted to do it (all of the presents are from Santa, or one present is from Santa, or Santa presents are unwrapped, etc), so we just hadn't brought it up with the kids yet.  I am not a fan of asking kids what they want for Christmas.  I don't like giving out my own wishlist, either.  I think gifts should be thoughtful and heartfelt and a surprise rather than just checking off something on someone's list.  I know, I'm the weird one.

 One tradition that we have kept up (from either my family or my imagination) is opening a gift, which is always pajamas, on Christmas Eve.  Darbie has the tradition as well.  Here are the kiddos ready for bed on Christmas Eve.

We decided to go with Santa leaving one present which is open (all the other presents which are wrapped are from mom and dad), since that's what Darbie's family does.  I think I like it like that (but if I do change my mind, I think the kids are young enough to change Santa habits without any big issues).

Santa brought Caleb a firetruck!

 Santa brought Eliza a tea set.  The cups change color when cold water is poured in them and turn back to their normal color when washed in warm water.  The kids had fun having tea parties (or TEA parties, for you Paula).

I didn't take very many Christmas morning pictures that are worth posting on the blog.  We all pretty much look like we just woke up.  The kids and Mike got lots of fun presents.  Mike gave me my present (a fancy schmancy sewing machine that is way nicer than anything I would have never bought for myself) before Christmas so I could finish the girls' dresses for the wedding (my other machine went kaput).  I was thrilled!  Everyone had a happy day.

We headed back home a few days after Christmas.  We were eager to have our kids sleep again.  They don't sleep so well when they aren't in their own beds.