A favorite gift I received--
this charming bird from my high school best friend:
and Santa left behind
1. Kit Kittredge
2. A Sony PSP
3. Fender Drum Set
and my kids have enjoyed a wonderful, fun-filled day! I woke up with a double earache and a sore throat of course, but what can Santa's helpers expect when they stay up for 3 nights in a row until after 2 am?! Sound familiar? Sleepless nights have paid off though and now with my 3 kiddos nestled into their beds on this Christmas night, Rob and I are about to settle into the sofa with some hot cocoa and a movie. I thought I'd take a minute to share the highlights of the day and the favorite gifts received, starting with Santa's visit and the crumbs left behind by a precocious reindeer.
Confirmed rumor has it, Rudolph likes walnuts and Santa Claus is a sucker for peppermint bark:
Chloe had left Santa some cookies and the reindeer some carrots and turkey slices but they made themselves right at home and found additional treats to eat during their visit. Chloe thought it was rather considerate of them to leave a note, even if Rudolph had left behind a mess of walnut shells on the carpet in front of the fireplace. These were small prices to pay, she thought, especially when she found Kit Kittredge left behind for her under the tree.
Brad was thrilled to find a PSP hiding for him at the very back of the tree. That's him up there ^ on the red sofa getting acquainted with his new Christmas gadget. Chloe was so happy to find out that my parents had been in cahoots with St. Nick and so... they mailed her an entire wardrobe of clothing for Kit handmade by Grandma Mary and this super chic closet made by Grandpa Glynn--I love my parents! What fun grandparents. Kit has everything from a formal silk gown to hip rockstar jeans to this great bathrobe. Crocheted hats and coordinating hand bags were shipped from Oregon courtesy of Aunt Rachel--thanks sis!
Sean had the biggest scare of the day--he thought he'd been forgotten for awhile. He opened a few "courtesy gifts" like jeans and a tie and really thought after 45 minutes of having nothing else to open that the drums he wanted would have to "wait til next year." That all changed when Chloe spied this note hanging on the tree:
So...out we all trudged out on the icy driveway at 4:45 am (yes I just actually typed 4:45 am--that's older kids for you!) to see a fancy new drum set waiting for Sean in the back of the Odyssey with a great big bow on top of it. Sean was totally surprised and couldn't move fast enough to haul the big box into the house so he could start building his set. Six hours and lots of fine-tuning later, I found him in the basement looking like this ----->
He's been listening to his iPod most of the day and hammering out the percussion to Van Halen and Led Zeppelin. I am totally amazed at this kid's musical ear. He can sit at the piano and play tunes and commercial ditties without any sheet music and now he's very recognizably playing drum beats without any formal training.
Goal for 2009--get this kid into music lessons!
Christmas 2008 seemed to have a pretty slow start to me but ended with a literal bang (I mean--have you heard a teenager on the drums?!)
Happy Christmas!
~eva
