Silent Night

Peace and quiet. Briefly. The kids were great yesterday. The excess of cookies and grandparents didn't seem to send them too far into orbit. We found homes for about half the gifts, but the living room still looks like a tornado blew through. Especially with the tree and trampoline taking up so much space.

Trampoline. Big hit so far. They don't actually jump around much, but they like to hang out inside and toss the balls around. If you ever decide to do something similar, make sure that the airpump you buy works on a standard outlet. Otherwise, you and your loved ones will spend two hours in the driveway on Christmas Eve running the pump off the car's lighter. Fun.


Claire and Nathan had to help open every present. Claire actually got a head start on the 23rd when she followed Sprite into my closet and started unwrapping gifts while I was in the bathroom. She's a tricky one.


Obviously, this was all very tiring for a one year old.


This was Nathan's gift to Claire. We bought the jewelry box prepainted, but then Nathan got to decide where the glitter, gems and stickers went. It's a bit gaudy, but sweet.


This is my favorite gift. We've been buying Nathan knights for awhile, and Dad got the castle to go with them. It's wood, not plastic, and is pretty realistic. (Well, it would be realistic if it didn't have Spiderman and his ATV there too.) He liked the King and Queen that came with it, and I bought a dragon for Claire to give him. I think some siege engines and some archers will find there way into his birthday presents too.


Tomorrow, I'm off to Saranac Lake again for another medical infusion. It's Dan's birthday, so I'm hoping to be home early so we can go out for a b-day/anniversary date. Then I'm off to Vermont and New Hampshire for Roxanne's party on Saturday, as long as the weather holds. We've managed a White (day after) Christmas, but just barely.