Until I married Andrew, I didn't give much thought to how other families do their Christmas, and whether or not Santa visits their house and what he usually does when he gets there.
Once Andrew and I were getting ready to start a family, we discussed these things.
For us, Santa was a big deal. I remember on Christmas Eve all 4 of us girls would be in our room (and even when we split up 2 and 2, a lot of times we'd end up in one room). We'd push our beds together and try to stay up. We'd giggle and talk and I vividly remember the one time I swore I heard Santa up on the roof. We'd eventually fall asleep, but we'd wake up around 3 or 4 and wake up each other. We'd sneak into the living room and our tree would be bursting with gifts. We were never allowed to wake mom and dad up any earlier than 5:00, I think (it may even have been earlier!). We would go through each gift and make piles and anxiously wait until it was time. We'd rush upstairs and wake up my parents and we'd spend all morning opening gifts. Santa was awesome. And the Easter Bunny was pretty cool too - he always hid our baskets so we'd have to go searching for them. He also always got into stuff, like flour or sugar, and would leave a trail all around the kitchen.
So, once Andrew and I were starting our family, I figured we could talk about how we would do it - I imagined the same way, but I wanted to know his family traditions.
"Oh," he said, "we didn't really believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny." And he didn't - like ever! I didn't realize that other families may do it differently. I talked to friends and Santa would get them like 1 or 2 big gifts. Some Santas didn't wrap the presents from them.
Since Andrew had nothing to compare it to, we're going my family's way. :)
On Christmas Eve night we exchange our gifts to each other and Avery (and now Hadley) get a few presents - an ornament to put on the tree, new pjs to wear that night and maybe a small toy (books this year). Christmas morning is totally all about Santa. He is bringing quite a bit this year. I'm SO excited to see Avery's face. We're going to put together a few of the bigger gifts and just cover them up, because last year she was very impatient while Andrew had to put them together. This way, she can play with them right away. I figured, maybe that could be a little tradition - 1 big toy for each kid already put together and ready to be played with - at least, until they get to the age where I remember getting up hours early to check out presents. The one year we got hamsters was pretty exciting because they weren't wrapped and we already started playing with them and had names picked out before my parents even got up.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Black Friday Shopping... what a scam.
Before I post regarding my title, I'll actually do a small update on the girls... since this blog is about them, and only partially about their wonderful mom. ;)
Staying at home has been absolutely the best thing I could be doing right now. I don't think that sentence is grammatically correct, but that's exactly how I was thinking it, so... anyway. Best thing ever. Monday I get to go help Avery's class for their Christmas party. And Tuesday I get to go listen to their short Christmas sing-a-long program, which is during the school day, so that's definitely not something I would easily have been able to attend if I were still working full time.
Hadley has been pushing herself up to a sitting position. If she has any sort of leverage or if she's laying at an incline, she will struggle on her elbows until she gets herself pushed up. She's very nosy. She likes seeing what's going on all around her. And every time she sits up, she has a huge smile on her face. She's been pushing up a lot on her arms too, so I don't think it will be too long before she's crawling and sitting up on her own.
On to the Black Friday scam of shopping:
So, we went to Walmart at about 8pm on Thanksgiving Day. I always get a thrill about going in huge crowds, even though I absolutely hate big crowds and I end up agitated by the end of the night. I went with my family, and they had tons of stuff to get, but there were only a few things I saw in the ad I wanted to get. The most important was the Ariel Magical Talking Salon. It's the "biggest" (read: most expensive) present on Avery's list and listed at $80, it was only $50 on Black Friday! I also picked her up a table and chairs set that was on sale for $20 (usually $30). I was super excited since we got both. Until I went to Walmart Wednesday night. They had tons of the table and chairs sets, still marked at $20. But then.... then I noticed the Ariel Salon..... marked down to $35.00. !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I checked with the front desk and they will only give you the difference on your receipt if you made the purchase within the last week. (Dumb.) Well, so what did I do? I went home and got my receipt and my Ariel Salon, went right back to Walmart, returned the salon, got my money back, went out to Lawn & Garden and grabbed the $35.00 Salon (same thing) and checked out with two extra gifts from the extra money.
Then I told Andrew that next year when I say we HAVE to go shopping Black Friday to remind me of this so I will realize it's much more fun to go shopping the week before Christmas when there are NO lines and the sales are better.
Seriously. I'm so over Black Friday. I'm even labeling this post so that next year when I say, "Black Friday is so worth it!" I can search my blog for Black Friday and find this post, which totally proves Black Friday is NOT worth it. Random Wednesday was a much better experience. :)
Staying at home has been absolutely the best thing I could be doing right now. I don't think that sentence is grammatically correct, but that's exactly how I was thinking it, so... anyway. Best thing ever. Monday I get to go help Avery's class for their Christmas party. And Tuesday I get to go listen to their short Christmas sing-a-long program, which is during the school day, so that's definitely not something I would easily have been able to attend if I were still working full time.
Hadley has been pushing herself up to a sitting position. If she has any sort of leverage or if she's laying at an incline, she will struggle on her elbows until she gets herself pushed up. She's very nosy. She likes seeing what's going on all around her. And every time she sits up, she has a huge smile on her face. She's been pushing up a lot on her arms too, so I don't think it will be too long before she's crawling and sitting up on her own.
On to the Black Friday scam of shopping:
So, we went to Walmart at about 8pm on Thanksgiving Day. I always get a thrill about going in huge crowds, even though I absolutely hate big crowds and I end up agitated by the end of the night. I went with my family, and they had tons of stuff to get, but there were only a few things I saw in the ad I wanted to get. The most important was the Ariel Magical Talking Salon. It's the "biggest" (read: most expensive) present on Avery's list and listed at $80, it was only $50 on Black Friday! I also picked her up a table and chairs set that was on sale for $20 (usually $30). I was super excited since we got both. Until I went to Walmart Wednesday night. They had tons of the table and chairs sets, still marked at $20. But then.... then I noticed the Ariel Salon..... marked down to $35.00. !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I checked with the front desk and they will only give you the difference on your receipt if you made the purchase within the last week. (Dumb.) Well, so what did I do? I went home and got my receipt and my Ariel Salon, went right back to Walmart, returned the salon, got my money back, went out to Lawn & Garden and grabbed the $35.00 Salon (same thing) and checked out with two extra gifts from the extra money.
Then I told Andrew that next year when I say we HAVE to go shopping Black Friday to remind me of this so I will realize it's much more fun to go shopping the week before Christmas when there are NO lines and the sales are better.
Seriously. I'm so over Black Friday. I'm even labeling this post so that next year when I say, "Black Friday is so worth it!" I can search my blog for Black Friday and find this post, which totally proves Black Friday is NOT worth it. Random Wednesday was a much better experience. :)
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Horton the Elf
Our elf Horton has been super busy this year! As I posted earlier, he showed up with a full breakfast for everyone, straight from the North Pole! And he brought a little stuffed toy for both girls.
He's also been hiding in some silly spots this year! Unfortunately, I am bad and haven't taken pictures of every single day, and I uploaded some on my phone or Andrew's phone (like his ride in the car with Cinderella one day), but here are a few pictures from Horton's Adventures:
Horton left a pile of presents one night- our book tradition. He also likes to play in Mommy's flour and steal my dry erase marker to draw on our family pictures!
I didn't get a picture of his marshmallow and cookie bath or when he hid in the bathroom and turned the toilet water green. This elf is so silly, but Avery is loving it! I told her as long as Horton cleans up his messes every night, then Mommy wouldn't get mad. And so far, he's been very good at that. Loving this year's Christmas with both girls: Avery is really getting into Santa and the elf, but she also has been asking a million questions about Baby Jesus. And Hadley is getting so alert and is now rolling over and scootching herself around, so I know Christmas morning is going to be so fun! Just a few more weeks!
He's also been hiding in some silly spots this year! Unfortunately, I am bad and haven't taken pictures of every single day, and I uploaded some on my phone or Andrew's phone (like his ride in the car with Cinderella one day), but here are a few pictures from Horton's Adventures:
Horton left a pile of presents one night- our book tradition. He also likes to play in Mommy's flour and steal my dry erase marker to draw on our family pictures!
I didn't get a picture of his marshmallow and cookie bath or when he hid in the bathroom and turned the toilet water green. This elf is so silly, but Avery is loving it! I told her as long as Horton cleans up his messes every night, then Mommy wouldn't get mad. And so far, he's been very good at that. Loving this year's Christmas with both girls: Avery is really getting into Santa and the elf, but she also has been asking a million questions about Baby Jesus. And Hadley is getting so alert and is now rolling over and scootching herself around, so I know Christmas morning is going to be so fun! Just a few more weeks!
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