One of my favorite things to do at Christmastime is give gifts. I love buying that PERFECT gift that makes someone feel special. I love surprising others with gifts they aren't expecting. This year my children were surprised and it was so much fun planning and perfecting the delivery of these gifts. They each receive 3 gifts from Santa. After opening their gifts, our elf Jangle, prepares a huge box of "stocking stuffers." They each take a turn blindly reaching into the box and drawing out an unwrapped gift. They have to decide who it belongs too. They really enjoy this part of Christmas morning--maybe even more than opening their 3 gifts!
For nearly 3 years, Avery has been begging to go to New York. She wants to see Broadway shows and I've been dying to take her. I have never been to New York City and I'm super excited she and I will be leaving in two weeks to finally make her dream come true! I cried when I watched her open box after box until finally opening a puzzle she had to put together to read about her surprise. I think she might have even cried a little too. ;)
Ivy, aka Ivy Mendes, received a ukulele she was not expecting but her biggest "surprise" was a framed 24x36 poster of she and Shawn Mendes. She flipped out! Highlight of my morning!
Jackson is so hard to surprise! He didn't really give us a lot of options so he probably knew what he was getting but I know he had a few surprises in the "stocking box." I'm not sure how long Santa will be delivering presents to the boy who will be 20 next Christmas!
The funniest part of our morning, although not very funny to Ivy, was watching her reaction to Jadon's HUGE teddy bear. The kids fill out a Christmas wish list and Jadon had this bear at the top of his list. He talked about it for months before Christmas. I told him it was very expensive so Santa probably would not be able to deliver. When Jadon was talking about it a couple of weeks ago, Ivy said, "I asked for that too!" I kindly reminded her that if she wanted a giant teddy bear she may want to update her list because it was not on her list for this year. Nothing else was said. Here is her reaction, which, I'm still in shock about...
So I'm not going to lie...HUGE disappointment. I know she regrets having this reaction. She recovered quickly but my first thought was...OMG I've raised a selfish BRAT! How could this have happened? My baby girl who earned money to spend every last dime of it on gifts for others just had a tantrum over a stuffed bear. She is very remorseful and is completely thrilled with her Christmas gifts so please don't think she is totally ungrateful. She had a moment of weakness (you know, those that we ALL have) ...and now we all can laugh about it (well...she's not quite there yet). I did, however, learn a lesson that no matter how much I love gifting, I need to help my children find joy in gifting AND rejoicing with others when they receive a gift ---even if they wanted that same gift. Maybe this year I was a little too involved in finding those perfect gifts that I didn't spend enough time allowing my kids to be part of it. Lesson learned! And please know Ivy is an absolute sweetheart and she really does love others ---even Jadon!
At the end of the day, I am hugely blessed. I am sitting in my bed relaxing, listening to my children "play" with their stuff, reminiscing of days when they were little and thanking God I still have them in my life. This year has been so wonderful...and so terrible at the same time. Lots of heartache and lots of celebrating too. I guess that is just how life is. I'm just glad I have my family and we have managed to make it through another year together. They are my rock ---even when I want to choke them and when they want to choke me--- I know we all love each other and are in it for the long haul.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. We did not do Christmas Cards this year ---the first time EVER! And you know what? It's really o.k. We hope you all have a fabulous 2016!
