We had our family Christmas this morning! While I know gifts aren’t what Christmas is all about, its not a secret that they’re fun and anticipated. Also, if you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you probably have picked up on our method.
We follow the “something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read” method of gift giving, and while I LOVE the system, sometimes its tricky to be creative when coming up with gifts for each category, so I’ve done my share of blog searching to find ideas. That is a big chunk of the reason why I’m putting out kids presents on here 🙂 Ideas for whoever might want to try this down the road. I like this system because it forces you to get creative and really think about what you’re getting your people rather than just going into a store and coming out with armloads of random toys and clothes that you happen upon. Thats fine, too, but I love the planning that goes into this, and the way it leaves room to watch for sales and such just for those specific items. (So, just for records sake, this Christmas, Dekker is 6, Laela is 4, Rowan is aaaaalmost 4, and Solly is 1.5)
Ok, rant over! We’ll get to gifts in a minute, but we started the morning off with fresh cinnamon buns brought to us by, once again, our rockstar neighbours <3 (Solly was still sleeping at this point, sorry!)
After breakfast, the kids were just itching to open gifts. We decided to do a quick read of the Christmas story, and to pray together, to bring the whole gang back down to earth and remember the reason for Christmas in general. It was cute. They were all actually solidly interested.
Until Solly had to poop, of course. He picked a good spot for it. Riiight next to the presents.
Everyone prayed very patiently and then it was time to crack open the gift!!
I’m going to write about what they got out of the order they opened things in, just so its a bit more concise. We’ll start with their “wants.” The kids are still pretty young and don’t express a ton of wants, so I went forward and found some AWESOME stuff on local “buy and sell” pages. Dekker and Laela both got swing/plasma/wiggle cars. Rowan got a balance bike. Solly got a cheap little plastic scoop chair, which doesn’t really compare to the new ride-on toys, but those are all pretty over Solly’s head, so this worked too 😉 (These are probably the worst pictures I have from this morning, because they were moving so much, haha! I promise, quality will go up from here!)
Too bad its so cold out today, the kids couldn’t be out in the garage playing with their new stuff for long. Hopefully another day soon, because waiting for spring just seems WAY too far away!
Next in line are the kids “needs.” I found this one a really tough category in the past, because we are fortunate enough to have all of our needs met throughout the year. What do my kids NEED for Christmas? So rather than taking “need” perfectly literally, we settle on a more practical gift for this category. So for this, Dekker got new socks and underwear, which seems lame, but he was beautifully grateful for! His socks and underwear are so ragged, and I went against my grain of buying him all the same socks and got him “cool” socks that he will like more than I will. So, win! Laela got a full sized backpack to replace her bitty one that fits nothing but a water bottle and a snack in it. Rowans “need” was by FAR Brady’s and my favorite!! Rowan got BEDDING!! He got a new duvet and pillow, with a cute Ikea cover for both, and a big, soft, stuffed grizzly bear that he has tentatively named Snowman. Amazing! Solly got a pillow for his need, since he doesn’t have one yet.
Not the best picture of Dekker’s gift, obviously :/ I almost missed a few gifts being opened!
Lol!
Smooches for snowman 😗
The third category was “something to wear” and for whatever reason, I was most excited about these gifts! They ALL got slippers, and we searched high and low for very specific ones for each kid. They all LOVED what they got! Win!!!
Old man slippers for Dekker
Soft pink girly boots for Laela
Red fuzzy slippers for Rowan
Blue character slippers for Solly (mostly because we knew his siblings would love them, lol! He didn’t try to take them off once!)
The slippers were wonderful, and they actually all opened them first, so that worked out well. The last category was “something to read,” and they all scored two “Pete the Cat” books. Our kids currently LOVE Pete the Cat, and as Dekker gets better and better at reading, he can actually read through the early readers, so thats what we got!
Let’s be real. Solly just wanted the box.
Lastly, we got each kid a few pairs of fresh jammies, because everyone is sizing up, or in Dekker’s case, his are ragged and in pretty desperate need of replacing. Everyone was super happy to have new pjs 🙂 I’ll spare you pictures, because they’re not super detailed or anything. Just four pairs of jammies each. Laela and Dekker changed into new ones on the spot. Solly would NOT have his slippers touched, so he’s in the same sleeper, and Rowan decided to “wear naked,” and has been in a diaper most of the morning.
Our kids also pulled names and bought each other a little gift.
Dekker bought a mini duplo set for Rowan. Sadly, I missed a picture for that one 🙁 But its a tiny little set that makes a school bus. Laela bought game of “Go Fish” for Dekker. Missed that one too :/ Mom fails. Rowan bought Solly a bucket for pouring water over heads in the tub. I know, it sounds SO lame, but our kids all fight over who gets to hold the bowl that we use to wet their hair, and now Solly can have his own 🙂
He spent the rest of the morning sticking his face into it, making noises, and laughing. It was pretty much adorable, actually. And Solly bought Laela pencil crayons, which was stoked about, but of course, I didn’t photograph. Sigh.
The last gift WE got the kids was the movie “Storks,” that I’m likely more excited to watch than they are. And I made a brave move (in my books, anyway) and bought our baby Bambino a stuffed toy. Rowan has taken it upon himself to guard it with his life until Bambina joins us here at home <3
(I’ll clarify here that I did NOT ask Ro to kiss his stuffies for the pictures, or do anything sweet at all. I just asked him to bring them over and show them to me. This boy melts me.)
Our kids each opened one more gift this morning, and they were from our amazing neighbours, who once again, hit it out of the park and blessed our children. It seems we’ve been somewhat adopted into their family, and its quite humbling, to be honest. The kids LOVED their gifts! Dekker got some new Lego, Laela got her first ever batch of Play-Doh, Rowan got a big case of Duplo, and Solly got some cute toys that stack on top of each other, or inside one another. All perfect for each kid.
They kids hit the jackpot this morning, in my opinion and theirs. They were so thrilled about the whole thing, even though we definitely didn’t break the bank or get them anything especially extravagant. I asked each kid over lunch what their favorite present was.
Dekker said he was just happy to be home. That was his favorite. I pressed a little and asked what had he liked unwrapping from under the tree best, and he said his favorite thing was watching Solly unwrap his gifts. I LOVE those answers because, he obviously wasn’t super concerned about what he himself got, and also because Solly unwrapping gifts was a total disaster, and he screamed whenever the paper would rip, as though we were ruining the gifts. It was hilarious 🙂 But he would NOT pick a favorite present. He just liked it all, he said.
Laela said she also liked everything. I told her I was so happy she liked it all, and did she have a favorite? “Everysing! Maybe my wiggle tuck is my favorite?” Lol! Her wiggle “truck,” apparently.
Rowan said his favorite present was Bambino getting a stuffed puppy, and his second favorite was his bear. I’m not surprised by that at all 🙂
All of the kids decided together that Solly liked his bath bucket thing the best, which I agree with completely. He LOVED that thing, and was incredibly possessive of it! But hey, its his, and its his first day playing with it, so he’s allowed.
I want to say I’m sorry for the ridiculously long post, and the absurd amount of pictures. I know some of you mix up our kids sometimes, and with them dressed the same, its possible all of these pictures look the same 😉 But I love them, and I wan to document this all here for us down the road. And I also really hope that anyone wanting to break Christmas gifts out into categories in the years to come can gain some ideas from all of this as well.
I hope you all had a really lovely Christmas Eve, however you spent it! My parents are on their way over to spend the rest of the day and evening with us, and tomorrow is Christmas at their place!! Its such a fun time of year, and I’m breathing a little easier than I expected I would be. Those of you who are clearly keeping us in your prayers, please don’t stop! It is bringing significant relief and joy to our holiday <3 Have a VERY merry Christmas Eve!! I hope you’re finding yourself blessed in your circumstances, whatever they are.