My house is a disaster. It looks a little bit like Fisher Price and Playskool had a baby, and then that baby threw up all over my carpet. There are so many toys! Don't get me wrong . . . I'm not complaining! We're so grateful for all of them and I didn't realize how few age-appropriate toys Jack had until we let him play with the more challenging ones. He's a lucky kid to have grandparents, aunts and uncles as generous and loving as he does. We've decided to put all the toys in the basement (eventually . . . they're all sitting in piles in our front entry) and bring one new one out a week and maybe rotate some in and out. Otherwise, we'll be overwhelmed with PLAY!
Jack got quite a few clothes too! This was a lot less thrilling for him than it was for me. I'm so grateful that he now has enough clothes of the right size that I don't have to do laundry nearly as much as I have been. Yay! Not to mention that they're all adorable! He's becoming such a little man!
I got a lot of great stuff for Christmas, too! Kyle got me a new flash for my camera and a sweater that is the most beautiful shade of green (and you know how I love green) and some other miscellaneous items. I also got a sewing machine, some clothes from Old Navy, the Love and Logic early childhood pack, a Magic Bullet blender, a portable ipod dock, gift cards, and much, much more! I'm so thankful and overwhelmed by the generosity of my family!
I think my favorite part of Christmas day was Kyle opening his gift! We had decided that this year we wouldn't do gifts for each other . . . just stockings like we've done the last two years. When we really need something, we buy it and we can't really afford to buy a whole lot of "wants" so the stocking thing works out well. BUT, I really wanted to get him something special this year because he always sacrifices things so that I can have what I want (I need to write a post about that sometime).
A week or two ago, I let him know that I was getting him something because I knew he'd feel bad if I blindsided him with a gift and he didn't have anything to give me. I explained to him that I didn't want him to spend much on me because I was buying his gift under "special circumstances." The mystery created suspense and I think the suspense about killed him.
Anyway, he has wanted an ipod touch since the day they were released. He also knew there was absolutely no way that we could ever afford one, so he never really asked for one. A few weeks before Christmas, I combined a Sam's club gift card that I had been saving along with the gift giving efforts of several family members that I knew were wanting to buy gifts for him and was able to purchase one! He was so excited and I was thrilled! I was just thankful that my family was willing to go in on this with me, because there's no other way we ever would have been able to afford one. He definitely deserves it!
1 comment:
It's funny to read your blog today-- our kids are about a year apart, but our Christmases were very much the same! Kurt and I had a LONG discussion about the amount of "stuff" Moses got this year. (By the way, stashing the toys is a great idea; we did this last year, and it worked great. This year, however, Moses has a memory and wants everything he gets...).
I think we are going to ask each family to only get Moses ONE toy next year. With stuff from us, that would still be about 12 toys! And to think that is "cutting down"... I just felt so guilty looking at everything he/we got, when there are so many kids out there who get nothing.
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