Christmas 2009

Christmas was fun and busy, just how we like it! The day before Christmas Eve, we celebrated Christmas Adam (get it? Instead of Eve, it's Adam! Haha!) with Dan's family. We had a yummy dinner and hung out. We read a few Christmas stories but the kids were kinda wiggly and I think too excited for the next few days that were ahead of them. But it was still fun to share the stories.

Christmas Eve we went to my parent's house. We had delicious German food and as a German tradition, each of the grandkids had to perform something before they could open their gifts. It's always fun to see what the kids do. Then we opened gifts. All the grandkids got Zhu Zhu pet Hamsters from Granny Annie and Grandpa Harry. They were the biggest pain in the butt to find! And I would know since I self-assigned myself to find them. Karen helped too. They were one of the HOT toy items for Christmas and NEVER again will I try and find one of the most popular toy items again! But the kids thought they were fun.

We woke up around 7:00 am Christmas morning and headed downstairs to the family room to see what Santa brought. The kids liked most everything they got. Yes, I said MOST everything. This was the first year where they wanted very expensive items. For example, Lindsay wanted a purple convertable car that she could drive around the driveway. I told her back in October that Santa doesn't usually bring $300 gifts to just one child. She then tried to convince Zane and Gavin to ask for a purple convertable with 4 seats so she could drive herself and her siblings around. That way, it would be a family gift! Sneeky little girl. I told her she needed to put a few other options on her list to Santa so he could bring her something else in case the convertable didn't work out. She then put down an Ipod, so I told her to add "or an MP3 player". They don't cost as much as an Ipod. She kept telling me she was going to get the convertable and she was going to prove me wrong! BOY, did I prove her wrong! Santa always leaves a little piece of paper on the tree with a clue on it for a Treasure hunt to find their big gift from Santa. They had already opened everything else. Santa brought Lindsay, Zane and Gavin MP3 players with headphones that didn't fit their Doney heads (we'll have to return the headphones to the North Pole and get Adult ones for them). When Zane opened his MP3 player he was not too excited. Then he said, " I guess I'll keep it." WHAT???? So when the kids ran from room to room on their Treasure Hunt to find the big FAMILY gift from Santa, Dan and I were getting more and more excited to see what he brought. The hiding place was the laundry room. The kids opened the door and on top of the drier was 2 Dance Dance Revolution Dance Pads for the Wii, Disney DDR, and Guitar Hero World Tour for the Wii!!!! WOW!!! What great gifts.....so we thought. I was video taping and Dan was taking still pictures. We were waiting for screams of joy and jumping up and down. Instead, we got Lindsay and Zane walking right back out of the laundry room and Lindsay said, "come on, let's go find our cars." (referring to her purple convertable). Dan and I stood there shocked! I stopped recording, then got mad very fast! I picked up Brooklyn who was laying on the floor playing with toys and marched up to my bedroom to have a pity party! It was a slap in the face! Dan came in a few minutes later and I cried saying, " what kind of kids are we raising?" The kids then came walking in and saw that I was crying. Dan took them out to the living room and said, "kids let's have a chat." I don't know what he said, but it had something to do with being grateful for what we get, etc.... They then all came back into my room and said thank you for everything and gave me a hug. After I was done pouting, I came to realize that they are still young and I need to remember that. BUT that they need to be taught a little more about gratitude. So we will work on that. I thought we were doing a pretty good job of it before, but I guess we need to work a little harder at it.

Gavin was so excited for Lego Batman for the Wii and Zane was just as excited even though it wasn't even his game.

Brooklyn got a Glow Worm.

Zane loved all the Wii games we got

Lindsay loves her MP3 player


This was Lindsay running out of the laundry room to find her car from Santa that wasn't there.

After we set everything up from Santa and Dan had the gratitude
chat with them, the kids really enjoyed Dance Dance Revolution.

And Dan really loved Guitar Hero World Tour!!!!

So that did dampen my Christmas spirit a little, but I decided to put on my big girl panties and make it a good Christmas day. We went to Dan's parent's to open our presents from them and had a fun time. Grandma Tracey made blankets for the kids.

Then the next day we got to go visit Grandma Skousen. She seemed to be doing pretty well. It was so nice to see her and visit with her.

My favorite gift from Dan was an Ipod dock to put my Ipod in so I can listen to my music without having to hook it up to the computer. I love it and use it everyday! The kids also used their own money and bought me a big blue crystal bracelet that doesn't quite fit on my wrist so I told them I would put it on my shelf in my room where I display my important fragile things. It was sweet of them! So it really was a nice Christmas and I just try not to think of the ungrateful children part because I really do think they are grateful, just young! :)