Of course Santa brings the bulk of the presents in our house but on Christmas Eve I have the kids open something that I've gotten and/or made for them. I started doing this a few years ago for two reasons: 1) I don't want Santa to get all the credit for the presents and 2) I don't want what I give them to get lost among all the presents on Christmas morning. I would actually like to give them their presents earlier in the day but for some reason that never works out, it always ends up after their pajamas are on, before bed time.
So here's Zach opening his present. He got an I Spy bag that I made for him and since I figured he probably wouldn't quite grasp the concept quickly I didn't want him to feel cheated and I also got him a bag of "Cars". So he ended up with 2 presents.
Megan got a "Restaurant/Grocery Store" kit. She loves these kinds of things, Kristin has gotten several over the past few years (doctor's kit, vet kit, teacher kit...) and Megan wanted some kind of kit this year too. I racked my brain trying to think of something different that wouldn't cost me a fortune to put together. I finally came up with this idea and included pretend food, plastic plates and cups, a menu I made up for "Megano's Diner", a tray, an apron, a cash register, well, you get the idea.
Kristin sort of knew what she would get, a "Business Kit." She mentioned that idea last January and I thought, well that one's easy. All I had to do was wait for back to school sales, plus I had a year to put everything together. In her kit she has a briefcase, a bunch of different types of forms, different notepads, an actual phone that has different lines (to put someone on hold!), bins to put forms in, petty cash money and a bunch of other stuff.
Lauren's tough. I'm not sure she would appreciate anything homemade, at least not during her teen years. She did when she was younger and I'm sure once she gets older she'll go back to appreciating those things. So for her I bought a little white Christmas tree and decorated it with simple decorations. I hung what presents I could from the tree and the rest I wrapped and place them beneath. Some of the things I hung from the tree were: a necklace and sunglasses from one of her favorite stores, a 3 pack of itunes gift cards, socks, candy, nail polish and makeup. Underneath I think I had more makeup, gum, stuff for her hair and a bank that said "Shoe Fund" on the front with a little bit of money inside. Since she was little and learned to walk she has always loved shoes so when I stumbled across that bank I just had to get it. It's so her.
After the presents I had to take one last picture, one with all of them in their Christmas pajamas. I do that every year, buy them matching (at least for the girls) pajamas for them to wear to bed Christmas Eve. I think it might be the last year for Lauren to match since she's more into a woman's size than a kids size. I got lucky this year finding her an XL that fit, don't think I'll be so lucky next year though.
Off they went to bed and then Santa came sometime in the night and left their presents. To be continued...
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