Christmas

This has been a doozy of a vacation.  Esther has just recently started sometimes wanting to go off and play by herself, but Daniel is not there yet.  And they have been doing a lot of picking at each other this week.  So that means that either one of us watches them together (and gets exasperated with having to constantly redirect them), or we each take one.  So we have pretty much devoted ourselves this week to Being With Kids (while trying not to get too far behind on the laundry and dishes).  This has no doubt been good for bonding, but tiring!

Christmas Day, though, was all we could have hoped it would be.  Well, except for the waking up part.  Esther was awake for a while at 3 AM, and staved off boredom by (apparently) hyperventilating.  I have heard her do that before when bored so I didn't pay much attention, but it woke Tim right up and then he was awake for a while.  Then Daniel woke up at five...and again at six...and finally just past our designated minimum wake-up time of 6:30.  So Tim and I and Esther were awakened by Daniel at 6:34.  We all put on our robes (Tim's and Daniel's being Christmas presents that they had opened the night before) and went into the living room for stockings.  The kids had mostly the same things: a bottle of foot lotion, a bag of potato chips, a pack of gum, a glow stick, a squishy light-up toy, and one individual gift (a wallet for Daniel and a bottle of bubble bath for Esther).  Then we let them each pick out one gift to open.  Daniel picked one from our home study agency that he had been ogling and fingering every chance he got since it arrived in our house.  He was convinced it was an MP3 player, and much to my surprise, he was right!  After that we stopped for breakfast and the kids played with what they had already opened.  We didn't want the kids to open gifts so fast that they didn't have time to enjoy them, so we would open a little bit, take a break to do something else (like take a shower and get dressed for church!) and then open a few more.  We had opened most of the presents before we got to church, and then opened the big joint gift from Tim's family (a Wii!!!) after we got back.

I was so pleased that both kids cheerfully accepted the pauses to the opening, and were happy with what they got.  Some of Daniel's favorite presents were: the MP3 player, cash, a check, a visa gift card (so he has something to swipe just like we do!), a fat pillow (he likes to have his head up high when he sleeps), and a portable speaker for his MP3 player.  Oh, and definitely the Wii!  The present he most wanted, Windows XP for his computer (an old one that a colleague of Tim's scavenged for him), did not arrive in time, and in fact we are pretty certain that the company never shipped it and just didn't want to admit that.  So we canceled that order and are working on getting Windows from somewhere else.  Daniel has complained a little, but really has had a pretty good attitude about the disappointment.  Some of Esther's favorite presents were: the gymnastics shoes and ribbon that she has been anticipating for months, lace-up sneakers (so that she can learn to tie her own shoes instead of making knots in everyone else's!), the Wii, and, much to my surprise, a Snow White kid doll.  I really didn't think Esther was all that interested in dolls, so it's not something I would have thought to get her (it was also from our homestudy agency), but Esther asked to bring Snow White to church with her on Christmas, and has played with her lots since.  Today I walked into our bedroom and saw Snow White on our bed, wearing one of Esther's pull-ups, which was filled with small stuffed animals.  I'm not quite sure if SW was supposed to be pooping or pregnant, but it certainly looked funny.

I also loved that Daniel took the initiative to make presents for Tim and me.  One day a couple of days before Christmas, when he had been uncharacteristically not hanging around me for a while, I went to check on him and found him in his room.  When I asked him what he was doing he quickly said, "Nothing!" and appeared to be holding something behind his back (or possibly sitting on it).  Tim peeked in after me and smiled, so I figured it wasn't anything I needed to worry about.  After that Daniel shut the door and did not reappear for a long time.  (And yes, we enjoyed the peace!)  When he did reappear, he came to tell us teasingly that there were two more presents under the tree.  He had made one for each of us, and labeled them To: Mommy (and Daddy); From: Iloveyou Daniel.  Some other family members will be getting similar items, so I won't say just yet what they were.  :-)  But I was touched that he would think of making us something all by himself, and then carry it through.  We had the kids get each other gifts at the dollar store with their allowances.  Esther actually had a good bit of money saved up, but Daniel was nearly out after buying several coveted electronic items.

On Christmas afternoon Esther took a nap and the kids took turns playing the Wii either alone or with Tim.  They especially enjoyed a racecar game and a trampoline game.  In the evening we had a large and rather late dinner.  And then our Christmas was finished, a peaceful day enjoying family and being thankful for the love we share with each other and for the love God shared with us in sending his Son.