Christmas 2015

All of our kids know that we are Santa. It happened a few years ago when Stuart told Alana that Santa was fake, and I over-reacted, and then she always knew. And Alana can't keep knowledge about anything to herself.

ANYWAY, in an effort to keep the magic in Christmas, we really tell our kids "Santa is a fun legend based on the story of St. Nicholas in Greece." They've watched that Veggie Tales story, they know what we are talking about. This year, we added a new tradition. Each child got to play "St. Nick" for one of their siblings. They randomly chose a sibling and got $10 to spend to fill that kid's stocking. On Christmas Eve, we put them all to bed, then one by one we let them "sneak" out of bed and fill their secret sibling's stocking. I think it was a hit, and it was especially fun to see how excited they were for the gifts they GAVE!

The girls also woke up on Christmas morning and made me breakfast in bed. It was awesome. There was complete joy and no fighting in our home for several hours. I wish it could be like that ALWAYS!

Seth didn't care too much about the presents, and he mostly got clothes anyway. Stuart and I enjoyed seeing the surprise and delight on our children's faces. Also, I was able to find good bikes for the girls, but I totally messed up the sizes. After they each tried unsuccessfully to ride a bike that was much too big, we gave Esther's bike to Charlotte, Charlotte's to Alana, and we will exchange Alana's bike for a small one for Esther. They were happy with the bikes once we got that figured out. And a 24" bike is much to big for a small not-quite-8-year-old.

We have one more week of Christmas break and Stuart will be spending it working/researching/preparing for the new semester/etc. I'm praying that I will be able to keep the girls busy and happy.