Christmas

We had a very merry Christmas morning. The kids were up bright and early and we jumped right into it. I decided that this year we were having a "minimalist Christmas." I wanted to focus more on the experience and less on the stuff. I spent very little money on gifts (all garage sales and e-bay) and we tried to do lots of fun activities together throughout the month--especially service-oriented things. I don't know if the kids really got it this year, but I hope they will look back with fond memories on what we did, not what they got. I know I will always cherish the memory of dressing up in disguises (including Lincoln in a dress) to go anonymously deliver goodies to people. Instead of having the kids buy each other gifts, they each chose something of theirs to give to a sibling (or they did an act of service.) The older kids painted pictures that I put in inexpensive frames for Ryan to take to work. We all worked hard on a big surprise for Ryan's Christmas present--I cleaned out and organized the crawl space which was an absolute disaster ever since we started finishing the basement. It was a good Christmas.

Here is the before...

Lincoln was thrilled with the Winnie the Pooh toothpaste he found in his stocking!All Audrey wanted from Santa was an Indian doll (she is obsessed with indians lately.) He came through with flying colors! (Thanks to e-bay!!)

Oh, Santa really knows me well.The aftermath...AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

Justin and Sarah and their kids came down for a fun Christmas dinner. The kids played with their cousins and we all enjoyed playing and enjoying the evening together.