wii wish you a merry christmas

Posts have been few and far between in the last week because I've been busy with last minute preparations. There were presents to finish, crafts to do with the girls, and goodies to make. I have a lot to share with  you, so we'll take it one step at a time.

First off, Christmas morning.

Early in December, the kids wrote their letters to Santa asking for a Wii for the whole family. Santa shocked them both by sending Greg and I a letter in the mail. We had never received a letter from Santa before, so they were really worried about what this could mean. We assured them that it couldn't be too bad because the return address said it was coming from the "Nice List Division." Greg and I read the letter privately and told the kids it had confidential information and they'd just have to wait until Christmas morning to read it.

Still hoping Santa would come through, they set out cookies and egg nog for Santa. They set out carrots for the reindeer. Silly Mommy forgot to buy the cool kind with the greens still attached, so those reindeer had to settle for baby carrots. Heather heaped the plate with two carrots for each reindeer.

Christmas morning, Santa threw them for another loop. Sitting on top of their filled stockings was an envelope that instructed them to wake us up before opening the envelope. We had two confused girlies on our hands. This was completely out of character for Santa! Inside the envelope was this message:

You're getting older and smarter, this is true~
So I've planned a little scavenger hunt for you!


'Round and 'round she spins,
Something sweet mixed within.

First they checked the blender. Nothing. Then they checked the mixer.

I hope so far you're having fun,
Because a major award has been won.

Santa obviously knows that watching The Christmas Story is a time honored tradition in our family. The movie is frequently quoted and referenced. This Christmas season cannot officially start until the annual viewing of the movie. So with a little prompting, the kids looked in the ornament of the crate with the leg lamp inside.

I see you going really fast,
With these on your feet ~ you whizz right past.

This turned out to be his toughest clue. Even after they figured out it might be their skates, they had to look twice before they saw the paper.

Mary and Joseph had a babe,
In swaddling clothes in a manger He lay.

I didn't put up the big nativity set this year (why?) so they had to figure out which of the smaller ones held their clue.

I see Hannah, I see Alex, and I see Miley,
Look below them and see what you see.

Getting close.

And score!

Santa brought the Wii after all. Not only did he bring it, but he set it up and created a Mii for each member of the family. Way to go, fat man!

Of course we had to play a couple of games right away. See the time on the television? Our kids are quite considerate and do not get up at o'dark thirty on Christmas morning. They at least wait until a respectable early hour. They always have.

We moved on to many other fun presents. These kids are a constant crack up, I tell you!

The kids are very fond of the jammies they got from Kim and Brent! They paired them with the funky knee socks Santa brought in their stocking. High fashion, right here.

The kids got a couple of handmade presents as well. About a week before Christmas I saw an idea online to make a recipe book (or file) for kids to collect family recipes in as they grow up. So I created digitally scrapbooked divider pages for each category (17 categories). I printed the 8x10s at Walgreen's, mounted them on an 8.5x11 paper, then laminated them. Their books are identical except for the binder color and the picture on the front and spine. They have both shown an interest in cooking, so I thought this would be perfect for them. They love it.

I also made them the journal cover and travel tissue cozies they've been begging me to make for them.

We had a wonderful Christmas morning ~ although we did have to tear them away from the Wii to get ready to go to Grandma & Papa's.

Oh, and the letter? Santa just wanted to let us know that he saw how good they've been all year and was going to bring them the Wii. He thought we might want to tell grandmas, papa, aunts and uncles about it in case they wanted to buy them some games for Christmas. Boy howdy, did they!