Christmas 2016

The kids were very excited about Christmas this year.  I always find it interesting that there are so many elements of parenting that are not as I expected and this is one of them.  I expected kids to "get" Santa much earlier.  Don't get me wrong, they have been excited about Christmas for years, but I don't think it was until last year that they really started to think about Santa ahead of Christmas - so we'll call that age 5. Then this year I've already heard "that Santa is not real" and that's age 7.  One thing that is different for my kids than for me growing up is that they see Santa in SO many places, but not always top quality Santa's which means they don't have real beards and the kids clue in that they must not be THE Santa.  Which, of course, can be explained because Santa has so many helpers, but still.  The questions begin.  Before kids I always thought the magic lasted for so long. I'm hoping we can hold on to it for another few years.  Hearing the squeals when they saw presents under the tree and realized Santa had come was so fun to watch.

Reagan only had a few items on her wish list.  The first was Zoomer Kitty, which was actually on her list from last year but Santa didn't bring it.  She was excited that you could get the kitty in pink this year (only black last year).  It is a high tech toy that meows, purrs, follows you and plays with a ball.  She also wanted the American Girl doll, Leah.  She's a beautiful doll and a good addition to the family.  She also really wanted Littlest Pet Snuggles Tiara.  This was a gift she has wanted since her birthday but again, something she waited for patiently. It's a dog that opens and closes its eyes if you rub his nose.  It snuggles with you when you hold it and it makes noises.  Her most desired toy was CHiP, which is a robotic dog that is the next generation of Zoomer Kitty.  Unfortunately she did not receive this toy, but perhaps one day :)


There was also a very popular toy (and hard to find) called a Hatchimal that she was hoping Santa would bring her.  Luckily Santa found one for her and one for her brother.  It is an egg that only hatches when you give it love and attention.  The animal inside rotates and pecks the egg until it cracks open.  There are five species of these Hatchimals and you don't know exactly what color you will get until it hatches.  Reagan and Cole both got the Daggle which is somewhat like a dragon.  Once born, it plays the happy birthday song but is only an infant.  The more you play with it, the faster it grows up (through toddler to adulthood).  By the end second day it had learned to repeat words.  Reagan taught hers to say "I love you."  It has activity appropriate responses.  For example, if you rub it's head it purrs. If you throw it in the air it says, "weee."  So far they are having a lot of fun with it.

Cole had a much simpler list that only included "a car that I can fit in to drive really fast."  Unfortunately Santa did not bring him the toy he wanted.  I reminded him that you have to be 16 to drive a car like that, but he still couldn't think of anything else he wanted for Christmas.  He is having fun with his Hatchimal, though.  He also loves clothes with the Nike swoosh so he got two new sweatshirts and a pair of pants.  He also got a superman costume, scrabble game, a robot building kit (like Legos) and a new iPad. His last one was about 5 years old and after the screen shattered it never worked right again even though the screen was replaced). The kids big gift from mom and dad was an air hockey table. They were very surprised and have had a lot of fun with it! Luckily it keeps score so there will be no fighting about who is winning :)

Following tradition, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for brunch.  Reagan received a Nutcracker music box and Cole received a lap harp which he didn't want to put down! He is excited about using it during his music class.  After visiting for a couple hours we headed home and hosted Johnny's family at our house.  It was so fun to be able to use all the beautiful Christmas dishes we received for our wedding.  Nana and Pop came in addition to his sister Vicki's family.  We had a fun time catching up.  Reagan received a Lego set and Cole got a remote control race car. They also got gift cards towards new shoes. Unfortunately with the craziness of hosting I didn't take one picture!  Not to mention I didn't get a single picture of Johnny and me all day.  Terrible!

I hope that one day the kids will enjoy reading this blog (I print it every year) and remember the types of things they wanted for Christmas.  I find most of my Christmas's as a kid are a distant memory.  I hope that documenting it for them will help them remember years' past.  In 2004 I started a scrapbook to remember things from my grandmother.  I took pictures of everything she had given me and I sent her paper precut to fit the pages to write a story about each item she had given me.  Then I put her hand written note with the photo in the scrapbook.  I truly cherish having that book and love that my children will know that history.  A few of my favorite things from her include a very old trunk that she thinks came with her family on a boat from Germany to the United States (the lock is dated 1817), a cookie jar she remembers getting for her birthday in 1950, and salt and pepper shakers from a collection her mother had with over 300 sets!  So many things in our world today are expendable so we don't keep things like we used to. But I often look back at my own photo books and blogs and remember things my children love.  I can't believe in just a few short days we will be wrapping up another year!  It really is true that time seems to go faster as I get older...