Christmas Unwrapped

Okay so this is a little late but it was too good to not share! We had a great Christmas, despite Jack's persistent ear infection that has not gone away since early November, but more on that later. It was a perfect balance of having family in our home, going to see my family, and the four of us home together as a family. Natalee is at the perfect age to understand what Christmas is really all about, although she is still wondering why we didn't open the (empty) wrapped present for Baby Jesus! Anyway, she was so much fun and declared this "THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER" on several occasions. I think my favorite memory is when we went to our quaint little downtown area to watch a little orchestrated light show. We were in the gazebo watching the lights dance to Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and who could resist jumping and dancing to that? Natalee and I held hands and danced and ran around in circles to the music. Even the grandma in the other group there was doing some Russian dance Nutcracker-style kicks! (Quite impressive, I might add!)



It has kind of become the running joke, unoffically of course, to find the most random toy or gift for our children among our family. I don't mean that in a bad way--it cracks us all up! We call it the "Hecho in China" factor. First exhibit: for Natalee's first birthday her Aunt Shellee and Uncle Dennis gave her a singing Noah's ark toy. Not really unusual, right? Well, it plays Old McDonald. And Jingle Bells. A Christmas song, and not even a Biblical one at that!



Second Exhibit: the singing pig that made it's way home with Natalee last summer, despite my best protests that it needs to stay at Grandma's house so she can play with it there. You might want to turn down your volume if you are in the presence of someone who startles easily! Imagine my laughter a couple of weeks ago when the house cleaners happend to press the button while cleaning (which I heard over the baby monitor from Natalee's room!) I would have loved to have seen their faces. And yes, my kids are playing on the stairs. And no, I don't want to hear about it. They were supervised!

Third Exhibit: the FurReal cat Natalee received for Christmas this year from her Aunt Cici and Uncle Rodney. I will take the blame for this one. I picked it out and totally underestimated the creepiness factor! Shellee was with me when I bought this one at Target and let me just tell you--it meowed through the whole Target. Prompting us to laugh so hard that I thought I was going to have an accident in the store. Then our giggles got the best of us and the poor guy checking us out had to have thought we were on some really good stuff! And the best part was when it was wrapped up and taken to my sister's house to be opened, well, it still meowed! To which just opened itself up for the inevitable Clark Griswold comments of "she wrapped up her darn cat!" It was hilarious.

Fourth Exhibit: while celebrating at my in-law's, Natalee was playing with a bear that started talking and caused me to do a double-take. We had to play it again and listen closely. This bear dispenses sage advice--the most notable: "When caught in a trap, it is best to chew your leg off." Seriously??!! We died. Who makes a toy like that for a child?! This bear looks all sweet and cuddly, but don't let it fool you. And coming from someone who had a dog who disappeared for two weeks while apparently caught in a trap then showed up missing a leg, it brought back some tragic images that I had buried! (Don't worry--the dog lived a happy life as a three-legged dog we lovingly called Tripod.) I am sad to say that I didn't shoot video of it, and since it does NOT live at my house I can't give you proof, but trust me, it exists!



So, what did you get for Christmas?!