Christmas 2015

Another Christmas morning has come and gone. This one turned out to be far more of a successful venture than I had anticipated. I was riddled with worry that one child (the youngest, who is simply harder to buy for because he expresses so few wants and needs) would feel slighted or disappointed with his gifts. I do try to keep things equivalent, but this year proved too difficult in that regard (Trevor had far more needs and wants than the other two and some of his needs were more expensive, so he was, by far, the favored child today).

One of the best things about today's gift giving was that the two older boys both participated in purchasing gifts for others (they haven't really done that in the past). Sean had a gift for each of his brothers under the tree, but he was oblivious as to what they were because they had actually been purchased by a parent. Both Bryce and Trevor bought thoughtful and interesting gifts for everyone. Bryce even managed to buy me a book that I liked but didn't already own and hadn't already read (now that's a feat).

We had some hits and some misses, but that's par for the course. The biggest hit was immediately evident - the BMX bike for Trevor. He came out and saw it and his face lit up. I had wanted to find an awesome sled to put under the tree for Sean (so that he would have something large and similar to Trevor's big present), but we procrastinated long enough on that one that we were unable to secure one in time for Christmas (and frankly the weather looks like it might not even bring sledding weather any time soon). Thankfully, Sean was not disappointed in the slightest and loved his gifts (which were primarily cool clothes - he had said that everyone else wears cool clothes at school while his aren't so cool - i.e., thrift store clothes - ouch).

Some of the misses? Bryce bought Sean a gift that was supposed to produce smoke from your fingertips. We opened the tube, spread the horribly smelly ointment on the thumb, rubbed the forefingers over the thumb and managed to produce only the slightest bit of disappointing smoke. The worst bit came when we tried to get the product off the hands. It was apparently (Bryce explained it well, with the correct words I cannot even remember now) unable to be washed off with water. It required the use of olive oil to get it off the skin and anything else it happened to touch - yikes. That one went straight into the trash can.

I had purchased a Koontz jet propelled car for Trevor from Fat Brain Toys (usually a great source of educational fun). What a joke! While he did have some fun putting the cardboard car model together, the actual use of the car was quite a disappointment. He would blow up the balloon to power the car and release it only to see the car move less than two feet across the floor. Groan. For the price, we felt it really should have been a bit more impressive than that.

In the past, I've had next to nothing under the tree for me, plus John had already informed me that my gifts were little and so he just wrapped them all in one box (really? that sort of takes all the fun out of the unwrapping and surprise factor). Thus, I really wasn't anticipating much. Thankfully, my boys really outdid themselves. John's gift was full of books, a DVD, CDs, and a gorgeous purple journal. Bryce bought me three things (the book, a pair of lavender-infused fuzzy purple socks, and a bar of dark chocolate) and Trevor gave me three, as well (a pair of monkey pajamas, a monkey blanket/pillow set, and a tile trivet with his picture on it).

Bryce's girlfriend, Madisyn, made me a beautiful hand-made gift with great significance. She created this lovely image of the state of Indiana, with a heart in the place of Lafayette, where Bryce goes to school at Purdue. I love it and can't wait to find the best spot to display it.

Thus, we've had a truly blessed Christmas. I'm off to help John prepare the Christmas dinner, which will be followed by a splendid nap. Perhaps after that, I'll do a puzzle. Blessings to all on this Christmas Day of 2015.