Monday, December 22, 2008

Nightmares with Wrapping

I finally wrapped all the Christmas gifts Friday night. I holed up in my room (door locked of course) at 8:33pm and finally finished at 11:48pm! OMG! That is no way to spend a Friday night!

The boys knew I was wrapping gifts, and my 9 year old only knocked once. He wanted a kiss before bed. Gladly. But in the one hour between starting wrapping and their 9:30 bedtime, the 3 year old knocked on the door no fewer than 5 times!!! That's right, I said FIVE. And before you think I'm a bad Mom for letting them stay up that late...it's their Friday night bedtime. We do this with the hope that they will sleep past 6:30am. But, alas, no luck with that yet. *whimper*

The first couple times he knocked, I ignored him & DH shooed him away. But, the third time he sounded like he would melt into the ground unless he saw me THAT INSTANT. So, I opened the door...and had to physically push him back out of my room. (He's stronger than he looks.) What is it about kids that as soon as you're out of sight or on the phone, they desperately need your full attention?? rhetorical.

Back to the point....I wrapped 25 gifts. I am still in shock. Of course, 10 of them are for out of state family and one was for the Cub Scout Christmas party, but that means my kids will be opening a total of 14 gifts Christmas morning! This doesn't include their stockings or the gifts Santa promised to bring them.

Here's the kicker...we economized this year. Our budget didn't allow for a "big" Christmas, but once I organized all their presents in preparation of wrapping, each boy had a lot of stuff!

This is thanks to DH being a talented, semi-pro shopper. Seriously girls, if you ever need a shopping buddy, he's your guy! Every time we shop, he'll help someone else find things to buy. I've told him a thousand times that he should give up landscaping and be a personal shopper. (If you're a millionaire & need a personal shopper, drop me a note. He really is that good.) *grin* So, amazingly, our budget wasn't busted & our boys will feel very blessed Christmas morning.

I want to take a moment to thank God for Scotch pop up tape & the Scotch Gift Wrap Cutter. No, I still can't cut a straight line, but at least I didn't cut a hole in the sheets this year. (yeah, that was last year.)

Oh, and to show everyone what a nerd I am. The gifts are wrapped according to recipient and location. Carson's are all in one type of paper, Christian's are in another (though I still put tags on them). And, everything going to my Mom's house is in yet another paper & to DH's family's house is in another. I love having so many different wrapping papers! My shopping king found them all last year after Christmas for nearly nothing! What a guy!!!!

L

Friday, December 19, 2008

Santa Claus is Watching You

Here's a potentially devastating thing that happened last night….

We were at Christian’s Cub Scout Pack meeting. They asked Darren to help Santa by dressing up as him to hand out gifts to all the Scouts. As he was leaving, Carson ran up to him & asked where his gift was. "Santa" told him he was planning to come to his house on the 24th after he was asleep, said a couple more things and went on. The whole time, Carson didn’t move or say anything else.

A couple minutes later, he looked at me and said, “Is Daddy Santa?”

This was NOT the kind of conversation I wanted to have with my 3 year old!

Note for the future….if Santa’s helper is unable to disguise his voice while talking to his 3 year old, PLEASE, P L E A S E don’t say anything except “ho ho ho”

Lena