Christmas 2013

Christmas Eve goodies for Santa and his “rain dear,” courtesy of Sami. Good thing we were ready because…

He came!

 

He tucked old dolls into new beds with new jammies.

He left remote control Rock Crawlers and light sabers for the boys.

Gordon got a new Lion he named Lionel.

Spencer’s elephant, Efelee, got a brother. (Apparently Efelee was lonely.) Spencer named him Baby.

Ali’s bed for Caroline was especially beautiful.

Eliza asked Santa for a nutcracker.

 

Spencer gave Doug a BMW. (Remote control version. We weren’t quite ready to replace his ’91 pathfinder with the real deal.)

Ballerina Barbie and Anna (from Frozen) danced together.

Ute paraphernalia for all.

Sami bought Eliza the Saige movie.

Darth and Obiwan dueled.

Since Christmas morning another Darth and Obiwan have been making cameo appearances on/in the children’s nativity set. It’s always a new fight scene. Here, the Empire appears to be striking back.

Who dunnit? I’m pretty sure it’s my third boy. Dougie.

Eliza was over the moon about her new Van Gogh calendar. It was at the top of her list.

These red cheeks and lips made me want to put down the camera and hold this little fella for a while. Fever and all he was still smiling.

Christmas Eve pajamas were perfectly suited for the girls. Kitties for Sam. Ballerinas for Ali. Horses for Eliza.

Eliza’s small tree held up better than our big one.

She decorated it herself and even made a pipe-cleaner tree for her wood pigeon fairy.

And now, to back up just a bit. I wanted to share with you our teacher gifts for this year. This is what we gave Ali and Sami’s teacher.

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For Eliza’s teacher, we planned something different. Eliza changed schools this year to attend a school with a more liberal arts emphasis, smaller classes, exceptional teachers, and a wonderful culture for learning. It’s pretty amazing when a teacher knows your child as well as you do (and in some cases, better). He recognizes and appreciates Eliza’s creativity, he challenges her, he inspires her, and she is having a phenomenal year. A teacher like that is worth celebrating.

So we had our friend, also named Lisa, design a terrarium for Mr. Flox. With a gnome that looks… just like him!

And another for his teacher-helper, Miss Prisca. These were so much fun to deliver. If you live local and you’re interested, you can see more of Lisa’s creativity on Instagram @leafdesigns.

A couple weeks before Christmas, we let the kids sleep under the Christmas tree. Their first time ever. They were out of their minds excited.

When they were finally asleep, I couldn’t stop looking at their sweet little faces. I wanted to cuddle up next to them.