We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and I am feeling very blessed these days.
Corinne has been bouncing off the walls with excitement since Thanksgiving, and it all came to a head yesterday morning when she saw what Santa had brought. She had a great Christmas morning, but I think there was a tinge of disappointment for her; a sense that the finale was a bit of a let down after all that buildup. Of course waking up early and being tired had something to do with it, as did coming down from the high she’d been on for weeks.
Like many parents of small children this year, we purchased an Elf on the Shelf. I’m not sure I like the idea of one of Santa’s elves living in my home, spying on everyone, and reporting everything it sees back to the North Pole. It seems very Orwellian to me, and there’s definitely a horror movie premise here. I can’t argue with the results, though It’s one thing to remind children that Santa knows if you’ve been naughty or nice, and another to have an elf sitting there watching. Corinne had her moments, but in general she was extremely well behaved for the month of December. Hopefully all that repressed naughtiness wont surface in January. 🙂
Corinne’s big gift this year was a blue 20″ bicycle. It’s a little big for her still, but at the rate she’s growing she’ll be able to ride it soon. It has training wheels, but hopefully this will be what she learns to ride a bike on. She also received a unicorn hobby horse, watercolor paints, and lots of reading and activity books.
Raelene’s big gift this year was a set of watercolor paints, with brushes and paper and everything she needs to get started. I can’t wait to see what she does. Santa brought me a Garmin Forerunner 410 watch/tracker for running, which I was very excited about. I wore it on my run this morning, and so far so good. There isa lot the watch can do, and I am looking forward to diving deep into it.
More than the gifts, though, we had a wonderful 4-day weekend in our new home. I ran the pellet stove in the evenings, so we had a fire to relax by and the house was nice and warm. I made the Christmas dinner, complete with a stuffed gluten roast and cranberry jelly from a can (with all the little ridges). It was a wonderful, wonderful holiday.