Christmas Day

Grandpa Kenny got all the kids a special present this year--headlamps. They used them to see as they walked down the stairs to the living room. Cowen has also used his to see . . . everything, and he thinks he must wear his headlamp to feed his dogs. Those of you with boys will understand.

Bryce with Amelia's dog, Indie. Bryce pretty much stayed wrapped up and asleep in that chair all of Christmas day.

Santa brought Eli an Imaginext airplane. Grandma and Grandpa gave him a huge ride-on dump truck and a smaller dump truck and Emeline gave him a Thomas train engine. Eli's passion for vehicles was pretty well accommodated this Christmas.

A glimpse of Beckie's tree.

The kids got The World's Greatest Fairy Tales. We had a copy growing up and they seriously are the best, and best-illustrated, fairy tales I've ever seen. Miriam's been reading them all afternoon (Monday).

Miriam got Cowen's name for Christmas and Cowen had Miriam's name. It was appropriate that the two of them would pick out a present for each other as they are best buds. Miriam knew she wanted to get him transformers, but she still took her own sweet time picking out the *perfect* transformer gift.

Actually, although my legs were killing me by the time we returned home, the girls and I had such a lovely evening the night they picked out sibling presents. I took them to Red Robin and they ate fish and chips and a milkshake, and felt very fancy being in a sit-down restaurant. Then we drove to Toys-R-Us but saw Gus (what the boys drove) in the parking lot, so we went to Target instead. Target had nothing good. It was very picked over. That is the flaw in letting the kids pick out a present two days before Christmas. Eventually we went back to Toys-R-Us where Miriam and Emeline took . . . forever . . . picking out the perfect gifts for their brothers. Emeline finally settled on a train engine for Eli (solid choice, I thought), and Miriam the transformers. You should have seen their faces when they opened each other's presents--priceless.

Cowen got Miriam's present at Barnes and Noble (he knows his sister). It is a ballet sketch book. There are sheets of rainbow and/or gold paper covered in something black. You scratch away the black to make pictures. Miriam loves it. Loves it. Cowen searched Barnes and Noble for literally hours to find the perfect present. He also got her a book. At first, Timothy was hesitant to let him pick a book we haven't read, but when he looked it up on Amazon it had almost 200 five star reviews. Good picking, Cowen!

Emeline got a rabbit Calico Critter family from Santa and an elephant Calico Critter family from Eli. She was in heaven. She loves animals and she loves little toys. Perfect. She's carried them around with her constantly since she received them.

The kids mostly got family presents this year. Timothy and I gave all the kids a big box of Legos. Santa gave all four kids 2-way radios (formerly known as walkie-talkies). After all the presents were opened, breakfast was eaten, and children were clothed, Timothy took the three oldest outside with the radios and tried to find the "enemy's base camp" up in the foothills. I had one radio by me as I entertained Eli and rested on the couch, so I could listen. Hilarious. Made me miss Derek and Leavitt.

Grandma and Grandpa gave Cowen this Iron Man helmet thingy. He was beyond delighted.

Timothy's dad. I like the pic.

Fun times. It was a lovely day and the children were happy with all their presents and I was happy to watch them. I love Christmas.