Christmas:a letter and a sacrifice

Christmas this year was wonderful. We had so much fun with the kids, and watching them open presents. Alivia was beyond excited and she was a pro present opener. Kate would finally get a present open and then she would play with it for a while before she wanted to open another present. We let the girls take turns opening Carter's gifts. It was a good day that didn't last long enough.

This is the letter Alivia wrote for Santa. Remember that she is only 3. She came up with this idea all on her own. She used a pen (which means you can see all of her mistakes) and we of course told her how to spell everything. I showed her how to put spaces between the words with her finger. I didn't tell her whether to put a capital letter or a lower case one. I just let her take control of this project since she was learning and it was her idea. She was so proud of herself. (and I am pretty proud too)

For those of you unfamiliar with her writing this is what it says:

Dear Santa,

Please leave me a princess fishing pole, a pink umbrella, and a pink princess backpack.

Love, Alivia

At least she said please, right?

Here are the kids with Santa. Tyler had to get in there because Kate was tired of waiting (2 hours) and it was past naptime.

Here's one with just Carter and Santa

Every Christmas we videotape the day instead of taking pictures because I always forget to capture something. So, the video camera catches everything. Between phone calls, skype, and playing with new toys I managed to take a few pictures.

Alivia insisted on changing into this outfit out of her Christmas jammies.

Kate is in her Christmas jammies and also wearing her new Princess panties. I wish Santa could teach her to wear them as well...

Here is the girls section of the couch after we opened presents.

There was a picture of Carter in his new swing, but I didn't find it in time.

This year I decided that we would only get one bag of candy. Kate was a little disappointed, and I think the candy may have been her favorite thing.

Some of the things that we got were:

Alivia:

a pink princess suitcase (it was supposed to be a backpack) filled with books and puzzles and craft items

all new winter clothes (she has grown SO much)

new shoes & boots

new thick coat

as well as lots of other small things and lots of presents from Papa & Grandma D and Granny & G Poppa

Kate:

a red tricycle with an Abby Cadabby helmet & horn

a mini drum set w/other small musical instruments

some new clothes

purple nail polish

piggy bank

and lots of other small things and lots of presents from Papa & Grandma D and Granny & G Poppa

Carter:

a new swing (that was also a gift for Mommy)

new church clothes

a few warm outfits

pacifiers and rattles

lots of cute baby stuff from Papa & Grandma D and Granny & G Poppa

The kids also picked out some movie lounger chairs from Grandma & Grandpa Smith

Our big family gift for the year was a new tv. It was something everyone could use to watch movies on. We have never bought a tv and the only one we had was a small 10 inch vcr combo. It was time. We decided to find a good deal on a 3D tv/blu ray player combo. Tyler really wanted a big 3D tv, and we found some good deals. I sent him out to get it with the amount of money alloted to spend. This was only a few days before Christmas. We had worked really hard all year to get a back end check on that day so we decided to spend some of it on something for us. I soon realized (when Tyler called me on his way back & asked me to leave some scissors, tape, and wrapping paper downstairs for him) that he had got me something. So I went out and got him a little something since we had originally agreed that we wouldn't get each other anything.

On Christmas morning were the following items:

a 46 inch HD LED tv and a blu ray player...........?

Tyler:

new hair clippers from Santa, stocking stuffers, and 2 new pair of shoes from me

Kris:

a new board game from Santa, stocking stuffers, and an ipad from Tyler

My wonderful husband decided to get a smaller regular tv for the family so that he could get me an ipad. I am one lucky girl!