Christmas Part I

We really wanted to spend Christmas morning with the kids at our new house this year, and we really wanted to spend Christmas Day with my family in Indiana, so we decided to pull a fast one on the kids and celebrate two Christmases this year. We pretended Dec. 23 was Christmas at our house so that we could hop on the car on Christmas Eve and be in another state in time to do it all over again.

Part of the reason for this scheme was that we knew Santa was planning on bringing the kids a train table, and it's hard to transport such a thing (along with boys and cats) in a modestly sized Pontiac Vibe. So I subtly skipped a couple days on the advent calendar, and we went through all the usual Christmas Eve rituals on Dec. 22: stockings, cookies for Santa, wide-eyed youngsters who can't seem to fall asleep, quiet secret assembly of toys.

Santa needed quite a bit of extra help putting this whole table and train set together, but when it was all done, we were pretty impressed. It came with a mountain tunnel, suspension bridge, roundtable, and crane, and it has sound effects as you push the trains around the track! And, something that I love, storage drawers to keep all the little pieces.

Christmas morning Casey came out and said "Wow!" An hour later, Darby finally woke up and said almost exactly the same thing "Wow! New trains!" It was totally worth the hand injuries Chris incurred during the assembly (I think--I guess you'd have to confirm with him).

Stockings for everyone ... that's a four-pack of Sprecher's Cream Soda sitting under Chris's stocking. He must have been good this year.

As entranced as they both were by the trains, Casey and Darby both had their eyes on this giant package in the back from Aunt Susan and Taylor. I had wrapped it, but they tore the paper off that one right away.

An air-hockey table! Those lucky ducks. I remember having something similar when we were kids. Chris and I will get some use out of this after they go to bed. I wonder if I am as good at this as I remember ...

As you  might recall, Casey asked Santa for a "toy car" this year. Darby, of course, decided he also wanted a toy car. Santa came through with a Batmobile for Casey and a Lighting McQueen Monster Truck for Darby.

This Curious George Hide and Seek Zoo Game is so much fun. In the middle of the game, the Man in the Yellow Hat announces over the walkie talkie, "The animals have escaped!" All the other players have to don an animal mask and run and hide, and the person whose turn it is has two minutes to go find them. It's a level of zaniness that I was previously unaccustomed to in board games.

Darby has been wanting his own snow shovel ever since winter started. We've been letting him use one of our adult-sized shovels, but he can hardly push it around. This one is just his size, and I am not kidding when I tell you that he saw it and said, "I LOVE this present, Mommy!" Aww. He uses the word "love" pretty liberally about things lately, but it was still really sweet.

Grandma and Papa sent some really cool gifts this year. One is a tent which I'm sure we'll pitch in the living room as soon as we clean up the Christmas clutter. One of the things Casey likes to pretend is that we're all camping, and now we have a tent! Someday when they're a bit older Krista and I are going to take these boys on a real camping trip. I think I've probably been planning that since before they were born.

You can see Darby with his new art supplies there too. On Christmas Eve I asked him what he wanted for Christmas, and he actually replied to that, "Markers," and then he actually got the Color Wonders marker set. He started coloring right away, and after that it was hard to get him to come over and finish opening presents.

A pirate-themed puzzle for Casey ... he later told Grandma and Papa a pretty long-winded story about the dragon that's swimming near the pirate ship. I can't recall the details, but it was probably the most words they've ever heard him say.

And here's Darby showing off a few of his stocking stuffers: sunglasses and a slinky.

 Those were some happy little boys on (pretend) Christmas morning! It was almost a little cruel to pack them in the car the next day to carry them away from all their new stuff. But more fun was to follow ... (to be continued)