We of course celebrated Christmas. This year, we did a 4-gift thing with our kids. I also had a few "family" or "all kids share" type gifts, like a fort kit and a big lego set.
The gifts go - something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read. I didn't have to spend too much, and it made me really think about what the kids were getting, rather than just buying random, cool looking toys on deals because "they'd probably like it."
For something to wear, Ruth got a coat and some boots. Ben & Tristan, I made them each a shirt that they had requested, and I also made them panda hats. Ben wears his to school EVERY DAY.
For something to read, we had plenty of good choices, so they each got a few books. I get them at thrift store and $1 book orders and save them for holidays/birthdays.
For something you want, the boys got Amiibos. I can't even explain this, it's basically a figurine that links in to the Wii and unlocks content in different games, or allows you to play them and level them up in Smash Bros. Ruth got a dollhouse (pictures to follow).
For something you need, that was the tricky part. There wasn't much they really NEEDED, so I got a little creative. Ben needed a new lamp, Tristan needed a coat, and Ruth didn't really need anything. I put Ben's lamp and Tristan's coat with a Lego tray that I made for each of them. I don't know that it was technically a "need" but I wanted them to have the trays so they could save their creations :)
So, the dollhouse. When I was 3 or maybe 4, my mom and dad MADE me a dollhouse. My mom put in carpet and wallpaper. There was even a section on top with some kind of plastic grass for the "backyard." At some point, my mom sent it to my house, but I didn't have any girls yet, so it just stayed in storage for a while. Obviously Ruth is old enough to use it now (and she LOVES it). But, this is what it was looking like:
I know those aren't very good "before" pictures. I blame Neil. But if you enlarge them, you can see I had to pull one section of carpet out, and a lot of wallpaper was gone/peeling. I wasn't in the mood to do wallpaper, so I pulled all of it out and painted all the walls white. It was also missing a lot of trim (1st photo) so my dad helped us put new trim on (2nd photo). And I used some leftover carpet from the office to finish off the last section. Then I set it all up with furniture/barbies and covered it with a blanket for Ruth :)
It looks really good! And Ruth plays with it a lot :)
Here are some pictures of the fort kit I found at Savers for $4 (the balls/sticks anyway. I bought used king size sheets for $4 each as well). They set this up with Neil as a rocket ship. They'd get in, "fly" somewhere, and then get out and explore! So fun!
On Christmas Day, I really felt that I needed to go visit my stepmom's parents. They are amazing people who have always sent us birthday & Christmas cards (and money), and even Easter cards. Since my parents were leaving to go build houses in Mexico, we felt like we had the time to spare. I haven't seen them in many years, because my dad (Daren) and my stepmom (Jennifer) had been separated for 5 years. I hadn't even seen Jennifer in more than 5 years. We'd never really had a relationship, when they got married she was trying hard to put her 3 boys from a previous marriage together with Daren and make that family unit work, and I just wanted to keep doing fun things with my dad. She was there at her parents house when we arrived, and we ended up talking for a long time about what had happened between her and my dad and some of the reasons behind why he has never really been able to have a relationship with anyone. It was really good, and she was really grateful that this opportunity to reconnect had suddenly come up. We had plans to get together on New Years Day to play games and get to know each other, but she ended up getting a week in a condo in St. George, 2 bedrooms (not Worldmark). She invited us for a couple nights, and with gas being CRAZY cheap ($1.75 last time I went to Costco), we agreed. It was really fun. She has 2 younger kids, ages 10/11 and 8 I think. Ruth loved playing with McCall, the older one. And of course Ben and Tristan loved playing with Chase. We played games, did puzzles, and just talked a lot. It was a great experience.
And I won't go to St. George without going to the children's museum. They had an extra exhibit upstairs, a tribute to Frozen. They had little booties to put on and "skate" around the wood floor, train tracks, coloring, cutout photos (as below), and stuffed "snow"balls to throw at each other. I really didn't get many pictures, we were too busy chasing after Ruth. Er, I mean, "playing" together.
Last little bit of fun, Ruth thinks the treadmill is a great thing. Like, when you put marbles on it, they make a really cool sound. But when you put marbles on it, mom will probably try to push you away with her foot. So I started letting her get on with me during the cooldown section since it's going so slow. This was my attempt to take a picture while sharing the treadmill and walking.
Other than this, we've been working hard to get prepped for tax season as well as the 4th quarter payroll taxes, which take more work than normal, so of course they happen in January. It's not like we weren't already busy making sure we have supplies, appointments set up, organizers sent out. Oh boy! I think we mailed ~120 organizers and ~200 appointment letters out to people. It was a lot, but it's all done and it only took about one full day to get them all printed, enveloped, and mailed. Now we just have to get all the payroll taxes done in the next week and a half - appointments start on January 31st! WOW!
