Christmas (Thursday night the 20th) 2012

I am writing about this a month later than it happened, so the details won't be there.  However, I'll write whatever I remember about it.  We did presents with our family before our trip to Texas, knowing that it would have been difficult to travel with the presents and bring them all home if we decided to open them there instead.  So we told the kids we would have our family's Christmas at our own house on the Thursday before we left.  Friday was reserved for packing.

Dave and I set up the little fake pre-lit Christmas tree a week or so prior to this, and on the day we set it up, the kids decorated it with the ornaments we have.  It seemed too easy, dealing with a fake tree.  No sap, falling needles, and no lighting it.  But the awe of a REAL tree and the smell of fresh pine were definitely missing.

A big snowy blizzard blew through Iowa and most of the midwest those two days (Dec 20 and 21).  So severe that school for both older kids was canceled Thurs and Fri.  This left me with finding something to do with the kids for most of those two days and trying to be productive getting ready for our long trip ahead of us.  We made sugar cookies and decorated them with red/green frosting.  I made two different kinds of frosting to accommodate both mine and Dave's frosting preferences (he likes hard and shiny frosting, I like fluffy buttery frosting).

When it was time to open presents the kids lined up their little chairs next to the tree.  I don't think Vanessa understood what was going on but she quickly caught on. 

Dave and I did most of our Christmas shopping on amazon this year.  We chose for Calvin a big life-like crane with a hook/string.  He also got two Tom&Jerry movies, a lego building board, and legos (from Gma Martha).  For Violet, a Fur Real puppy, kid's accordian, legos (from Gma martha) , a pink/brown dress, a "how to draw book", and a Curious George movie. For Vanessa, a Dora movie (notice the movie theme?  we wanted to get them new things to watch on the drive to TX), a Dora blanket, and a Dora Leap Tag book.  She also got a baby doll from Grandma Martha. Vanessa loves Dora...obviously.  She wanted to wrap up like a taco in her new blanket, watch her movie and play with her book immediately, of course.  We had to load the book onto the Tag reader first, which took some time.
All in all, they were VERY excited about their stuff and seemed appreciative and said thank you a lot.  It was a nice time.