We managed to stave off the early-risers till 9:00 a.m. this year! Surely a new record. They were up earlier, of course, and not pleased about waiting…but Sebastian had been out on his usual Christmas Run at 3 a.m. and we wanted to let him sleep as long as we could.
Look at the light streaming in the windows! (Seb, when he did get up, was not pleased. "Who opened the blinds! It doesn't even feel like Christmas!" He also managed to darkly imply that if we'd somehow been better people it would have snowed.)
Still, that Christmas Run is always impressive. It was fun for him to run with lots of old friends!
I couldn't sleep once I heard Seb go out, so I got up and went on a little walk myself. Inspired by Seb, I tried to make a Christmas star!😄 Then I got cold and went back to my warm bed.
So finally—after Baked French Toast and Bacon (had to be cooked sequentially rather than simultaneously as we're still down an oven)…
…on to the presents! This long long snake from Seb to Gus. Gus loved it so much and has named it…Chubby. ???
Seb decided, on a whim, to learn to crochet at the beginning of December. Daisy and Junie helped him, and then he made a hat for Clementine's monkey, a cropped short-sleeve sweater for a friend, an ear-warmer for Sam, and this amazing chunky scarf for me—this one was finger-crocheted. I don't even know how to do that!
I mentioned to Seb that someone we know was feeling a little discouraged and sad lately, and Seb immediately said, "Tell him to learn to crochet!"
Fire Engine for Gus, from Junie
At first, Clementine was a little wary of this big gnome Daisy made her…
…but she soon warmed up to him!
A butterfly sweatshirt given from Daisy to Junie, and a tiger from Seb
Goldie with the bath towel Daisy made for her doll
Seb gave Teddy his old model train sets
And Daisy his old BB-8 robot!
Penguin slippers for Daisy, to match her pajamas
Goldie made Seb this amazing Bike Park diorama, with jumps and dirt mounds and a stream, and did some paintings of his bike for him too.
Zig got a furry husky costume.
Gus got a big squishy Caw (and the flamingo shirt he is wearing was from Daisy).
Goldie got this beautiful Emma-style dress, which she looks absolutely perfect in
We had a pretty drive to my mom's house for Christmas Dinner
And do you see this big ugly outlet above the fireplace, and the holes in the wall all around it? There was a TV mounted there for the previous owners of our house, and we finally took down the TV mount itself, but it has been looking unsightly and bothering me for 3 years now. So Sam found some shelves at IKEA and gave them to me for Christmas, and they fit in that spot perfectly! He didn't even have to drill new holes! So now…
…we can put gnomes there! (At least for now!) Hooray!
I gave Sam a pizza oven for Christmas and we are still figuring it out. We made some really good naan in it, and the pizza we tried was quite good…but not perfect yet. We will have to keep experimenting!
Goldie crocheted me this "Forest Gnome" (I would definitely like to collect all 4!)
Junie drew these great pictures of Sam and me!
There are more things not pictured…the darling coupons Daisy made for me and Sam, with all the things we most want from her (hugs! clean rooms! games together! carwashes!). The jeweled canvas Junie spent all her money on for Daisy, giving up the very thing she wanted to buy for herself! The tiny cars Clementine picked out for Gus and then immediately tried to take back and claim for herself. The limited-edition, can't-get-it-anywhere Yumi pin Malachi found and secretly bought for Daisy at the Dragonsteel Convention. The book of photos for Clementine that has pictures of all the things she loves (sharp sharp knives, gnomes, the temple, the Bishop…) and which she read 100 times that very first day. So many good things!
It was a great Christmas. It was especially fun to see the kids being so thoughtful for each other, carefully planning gifts, spending hours secretly working on projects. I love seeing them do kind things for each other!
I love that your kids make so many thoughtful gifts for each other! Easy enough perhaps when you have one or two siblings, but much less easy when you have nine! Good good children to give so much thought to gifting things to one another!
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