Hey Everyone, Merry Christmas and happy holidays. What crazy weather we've been having, but boy am I glad that I raked that roof. It rained last night and the temps have been well above 40, so everything is turning to ice, and all that snow on our roof would have been like a lead brick of ice. I'm sure the roof would have held it, but why take that chance?
Christmas was more manageable that I originally envisioned. I hated the idea of a gift unwrapping frenzy that we'd seen in the past. There's something scary about kids who are mindlessly tearing open presents without even a thought. It's such standard behavior these days and I hate to see it.
There were a lot of presents for the kids, thanks mostly to Joanne, of course, but everyone seemed to be in the spirit and it was actually quite nice. We generally don't go off too much because we have some issues with the whole consumer culture, but kids should have some magic in their lives, especially on Christmas Day, so we did get some stuff.
The day itself went very nicely, we seemed to pace ourselves nicely. They started with the stockings, opened a few key presents and then spent most of the morning playing with those toys. We had lunch, then they opened a few more and played with those. There were several winners, mainly the Frigitz and the dart guns. The Lego Bionicles are a favorite, and of course there were lots of sweets.
Joanne did an amazing job as usual, as did P&D, but what really surprised me was my brother. He really showed up this time, and I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'll hold off on passing any judgement.
As evening sets, we're preparing for dinner. Ruth and the kids made mincemeat tarts, a first in this house, and the chicken is smelling good. Looking forward to eating and hanging out and then spending a mellow evening with the family. It doesn't get any better than this.
Until the next time, thanks for reading.
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2 comments:
Sounds like a lovely day! But tell me more: what is a frigitz? How do the dart guns work?
Hi Susan,
Are we having fun here, or what? We did have a nice day because we paced the shark frenzy of unwrapping presents. I've found the kids usually get overwhelmed with the vast array of stuff, and then they crash and burn. It can be such a letdown.
The Frigitz are a great toy, very creative and fun. They are basically a magnetic marble obstacle course that you stick to the fridge, thus the name. You can move them around and make all sorts of paths, and the kids love it. The beauty is, it's not the sort of thing, like most toys, that they get tired of after the first few minutes, and it forces them to think and be creative. Best of all, there are no batteries and it doesn't go "beep."
As for the dart guns, we have some issues promoting the idea of shooting guns at eachother, but they are kind of cool. The darts are made of soft foam, and we laid down the law that if we ever catch them shooting eachother or the cats, then they're gone. Nicholas really wanted them, and he and Audrey both love them, though she tends to favor more imaginative stuff, like Legos (we're not the doll-types in our house).
Just FYI, my wife spent several years in a suburb outside Sydney when she was a child. This was in the 60's, and they took a boat over to get there, which must have been fun as a child but torture for the adults.
Take care and have a happy new year.
Fred
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