Here we go again! What 👏 did 👏 they 👏 get 👏 for Christmas?? Every year I make a post about it, while counting on you guys not coming at me about Christmas not being about presents. Trust me, I know this. Its just for fun 🙂 And for ideas for others if you have kids in or around the same ages! 

Ok! The details! 

We do four category Christmas. Each kid gets four gifts. 

Something they want.

Something they need. (A practical gift)

Something to wear.

Something to read. 

Plus, for funsies!

Jammies (onesies this year)

Underwear or socks, depending on the year. They alternate. This year is underwear. 

Here goes, from oldest to youngest, with ages included. 

Dekker is fourteen. His want is some filament for his new 3D printer that he saved up for! We got him one roll that goes between blue and purple, and one roll that glows in the dark. His need is an apple watch!! This is a huge deal for us, actually. Our kids don’t have phones, but there was a promo to get kids apple watches with only talk and text, which we thought was amazing. His something to wear is a new black Zaks zipper hoodie, and his something to read is an enormous TUB of Hardy Boys books that I got off of Marketplace months ago. Like. Its truly so huge, I don’t even know where it will all go… For his onesie, I got him a brown one with a pug face on it. And he got underwear. I’m going going to give details on the kids gitch because 😂 weird. 

Laela is twelve. Her want is a super cool camping lego set. Its a little young for her, but she is SO concerned with growing up, yet she still loves to play pretend sometimes and its really really cute to watch! I want to keep that side as long as I can! So her lego set has a lego guy playing guitar, roasting s’mores, etc. Her something to need is also a watch! 😁 Eek!! Her something to wear is a long sleeved dress, which she asked for. And her something to read is a stack of Nancy Drew books that were part of the Hardy Boy tub, as well as some acquired through thrifting along the way. Her onesie is leopard print with blue and purple ombre background color. And then underwear. 

Rowan is ten, though eleven in February. His want is actually a really want. He got a remote control car, which he has ached for for a really long time. His need is a drum pad with a headphone jack, which I fudged into a “need” because I think it would be helpful when he’s feeling the need to get some energy out but doesn’t want to exercise or be aggressive. You get it. His something to wear is also a little fudgy. He got a weighted blanket. He asked me specifically for one because his was too small now. His something to read is a big fat Garfield book, as well as a book of Strange Planet comics. His onesie has graffiti and gaming stuff on it. Its grey and cozy like his onesie from a couple of years ago that he loved, but the details on it glow in the dark. And he also got underwear. 

Solomon is nine. His want is a fun Mario Kart lego set that just screamed Solly. His need is a cooling pillow for that super sweaty head of his. His item to wear is a new necklace with a compass pendant on it. You may have seen him wearing costume jewelry here and there, and I want him to wear something that really suits him. He had a super cool chain a while back that he loved but it broke and then he lost the pendant, so its time for a new one. His something to read is a couple of Big Nate books, as well as the newest Dog Man. His onesie is covered in pixelated foods like pizza, fries, hot dogs, etc. He will LOVE it. And then also underwear. 

Waverly! She is seven, and also got lego, because who doesn’t love lego? Hers is a stargazers set, and there is a tiny puppy with a little wheelchair! Cute hey?? Her need is *eek* getting her ears pierced!!! I know. Not a need. But I wanted her to have them done because so does she. Her something to wear is a watch – not an apple watch, hahaha! And for something to read, I found two cute graphic novel series in her age range and I got the first book of each to see which one she might actually get into. They’re called Cat and Cat, and Cranky Chicken. Her onesie has gummy bears on it. Its VERY her. And then she got underwear like everyone else so far. 

Unfortunately, I can’t go into detail regarding all of the gifts I got for the babies because they’re a little too gender specific, and I work so hard to keep ALL of their details super private on any and all forms of social media! But I’ll do my best here. 

Spoons is two. The onesie is a character one. Their want is a Little People set, and their need is a pillow! We don’t usually give pillows until around age two, so it felt like a good idea for a practical toddler gift. The wear I also can’t talk about because its a little too specific. And the read for this child is actually a Halloween book, because a ghost!!! Its called “Boo!” No underwear for this kid just yet, but instead, they got a little plushy bag of jelly beans. Its great for colors, counting, and the playing skill of putting things in and out of containers, knowing how many pieces are involved, etc. It went over well! 

Our Lemon Drop is a strong one and a half years old, coming up on two. Their onesie was a grinch one. Their want was also a Little People set, and their need was a pack of those fun suction cup toys that stick to fridges, windows, mirrors, etc (Squigz) They have some fun developmental value, so I justified them as a need 🤣 Their wear is too specific to share, but their read is a cute Leslie Patricelli book about going to be the beach called “Splash.” LD got a similar plushy gift rather than underwear, but cheezies instead of jelly beans. All went over very well on this homefront as well. 

Munchie mix is as infant. Baby received a onesie with pictures of different breads all over it, haha! Their want was a car seat fox toy, and their need is basically the same kind of toy, but more so geared towards tummy time. For a wear, Munch got those cozy Padraig boots that have fur on the inside that we get for every baby that spends any cold season with us. And to read, we picked a Sandra Boynton book called Smooches, as this baby LOVES smooches. Believe it or not, this kid also does not wear underwear just yet. For a replacement, we just got them a toy. A walking vTech smoothie cup. The straw is a great chew toy. 

Quick! The kids favourites!! 

Dekker’s top gift was his (drumroll, please) 177 books.

Laela’s top gift is her watch. 

Rowan’s is his remote control car. 

Solly likes his lego best.

Wavy also chose her lego.

Our kids best guesses for the babies: 

Spoons likes the pillow best. Because its a Squishmallow 🤣

LD would probably say the Squigz were the most fun. 

And Munchie Mix was sucking on the tummy time toy pretty hard yesterday, so we’re going with that, lol! 

All in all, the kids were all REALLY happy. I can’t think of the last time everyone loved everything. We are also in a pretty hard stretch of entitlement over here, which left me feeling pretty apprehensive about gift giving. But they absolutely gushed with excitement and huge thank yous all along the way. It felt really nice to have them be so happy and thankful. There has even been some *gasp* SHARING!!! 😳 I am very proud of my children 💜 

I’m keeping today’s post short, because Christmas. It has been a lovely, huge, somewhat low key and totally adrenaline rushy day. I am beat, but it was completely worth it.

Top three highlights!

Homemade pizza!! My mom makes the best pizza, and it was a fabulous Christmas dinner! Turkey will come, but this was perfect for today!

This YouTube video!! We were looking for a reading of the Christmas story this moment and stumbled upon this amazing gem. It is only 3 minutes long and I assure you, it is worth your while. Whether you have children or not. Whether you go to church or not. Just take my word for it.

And my top highlight was when all the kids ended up gathering in the living room, after all the hubbub had died down, and then chatted and played and read and just coexisted. No fighting. No struggle. No animosity. They just were all together like friends. Those moments are hard to come by these days, it seems, and this was SUCH a rich time.

Bonus highlight was from yesterday, when Cher brought them all their gifts. After the evening service at church, we put babies down and the five bigs opened their gifts. Snuggies!!! They were a HUGE hit! Everyone stacked up on the little couch for a picture, and it did not disappoint. In fact, it thrilled my heart.

Lord, continue to unite us with You, and with one another.

And thank you for today. We needed your Son, even though You knew He was coming to die. That is Love.

Amen.

Merry Christmas, all.

Twas the morning before Christmas and all through the house
No one was home because one of the foster kids had a visit.

Just rolls off the tongue, am I right? 🤣

I am wrong. Anyway.

This morning, we got up as a family, had a quick breakfast, and loaded up into the van! One of our little ones had a family visit today, so we dropped off mid-morning and headed out to run a few errands. Christmas errands, lol! In jammies, as has become our new theme.

Coffee ✅

Bringing our friend, Scott, a birthday gift and a Christmas card ✅

Picking up Tupperware ✅

Shopping for dressy winter footwear ✅

Back to the visit for pickup! I have a really nice relationship with this particular mom, so I lingered a little bit and waited for one of the other kids to be picked up, as their worker was running a little late. We always have a nice little send off and walk to the van together. It was nice. And oddly somewhat heartbreaking, knowing that this was their Christmas. But I’m glad they got it at all 💜

Then it went home – lunch – naps!

Final loose ends are tying up.

Others are wrapping their gifts.
The driveway is scraped very clean.
Another round of party mix is made.
Labelled the end of the Christmas cards.

I think I’m about tapped for what I have to do today. I think.

Tonight, the gifts come out!

Oh. Yes. That. I also have to do that today.

😅

Ok. Here’s where I’m at.

Things that got done today:

Pick up medical supplies at UROmed
Bring coffee and Christmas treats to Brady at work
Put family pictures in frames
Pack 5 boxes of treats to gift out tomorrow
Go to Mission Thrift (didn’t have what I wanted)
Go to Value Village (got a couple of kid gifts)
Arranged another pickup for tomorrow
Said no to another placement for Christmas 💔
Wrapped all gifts I had access to
LD closed themselves into the pantry
Rowan delivered papers

Things that didn’t get done today:

Delivering a handful more Christmas cards
Empty fridges of old leftovers
Wrap final gifts
Fold laundry
Get kids to wrap their gifts
Bathe the baby that needs a bath before their visit tomorrow

😅

Goodness. Not enough minutes, guys. What I can say is that the kids were super patient with me while I ran errands today, and no one complained for things they wanted. We even all went into Bradys work, just for funsies.

Tomorrow, Brady is off work!! We have to go into the city for a visit for one of the kids, and we’ll run a few errands while that is going on, but otherwise, hopefully we can let down a little! Its almost time…

Today was all around a pretty lovely day, but the end of it got a bit more challenging and its currently a little hard to remember the highlights. So I’m going to list them here.

LD discovered pants pockets. Happiest little thing I’ve ever seen.

Rowan playing hard with the babies, posing for pictures, smiling wide.

Laela sitting under the piano and the toddlers sitting with her, looking at books, while I meet with a social worker.

Delivering a Christmas gift to our doctor, only to read her genuinely thankful text shortly thereafter.

Dropping in on one of our pharmacies that we frequent and having the owners run to hug me.

Failing to pull out anything real for supper, and having no one complain about all the veggies I added to the non-meat meal.

Doing a thrifted puzzle that had all of its pieces.

Putting Munchie Mix down for night with NO tears.

Speaking of party mix, snacks are also a high point. I should start eating some of the fruits of my labour soon…

You may have seen absolutely everyone and their mother online throwing Grinch parties this Christmas. While it may seem a touch cliche, I jumped on that bandwagon! I have a million kids, plus a best friend who LOVES the Grinch! So a Grinch party was obviously in order! The kids got well into the spirit of things and helped prepare and set up on the day!

Cher brought the bulk of the decor. While we blew up balloons around the house, she brought a handful of stuffed Grinches to adorn our tree, as well as Grinches on canvas to put on the walls and a projector for when it got dark out! Ron Swanson drinking whiskey by the fire was not part of the Grinch, but he’s always welcome over here.

Rowan was the man when it came to helping me in the kitchen. Maybe it was being part of cooking club in the fall, or perhaps he’s slowly realizing how good it feels to be purposeful and intentional, but one way or another, he jumped into all the food jobs!!

Now if you’ve looked at the Grinch parties in detail, they all have similar menus. However, I couldn’t find all the “right” things, so don’t come for me and all the sugar when I tell you the details, ok?

Ok.

So the punch. Here is Rowan mixing the punch, which became his baby. He LOVED making the punch. We made it with pineapple juice, gingerale, and limeade. We were supposed to add different things that would make it green, but try and I might, I could not find anything that was working! Sooooo in went a packet of lime jello powder and it worked, lol! A frozen ring of juice and pineapple pieces went in last minute. Poof! Grinch punch!

Naturally, we have next to no pictures of the food, so this is the menu we came up with.

Roast beast – we served two beasts. A beef beast and a pork beast. Both just cooked until they met their second death in a crock pot all stinking day. They fell apart beautifully. Perfect. Delicious.

Who hash(brown casserole) was provided by my mom. Everyone loves it!

Green bean casserole, because green.

Fruit skewers that looked like Grinches. Again, no pictures 🙄

Everyone and their cute Grinch desserts can bite me, because I could NOT make anything cute work! So rather than something Pinterest worthy, I blobbed chocolate pudding into cups, topped it with vanilla pudding that was colored neon green, topped that with chopped up funfetti cookies I made with cake mix the day before, plus whipped cream, plus a cherry and heart sprinkles 😅 Don’t come for me.

We ate ridiculous amounts, but it was SO good and SO worth it.

The matching jammies didn’t hurt either 😍

We watched the Jim Carrey version of the Grinch while we ate, and then the first batch of kids went to bed. When it was just the adults and the oldest three, we cracked out Home Alone and watched until it was good and over and everyone was half asleep. And food logged with the extra punch and Grinch popcorn in our already-full tummies.

We had Grinch dishes. Grinch colouring. Grinch nail polish. Everything was green and bright and cute and happy, and I think I can safely say the party was a total success 💚

The house is still a mess, but the aftermath speaks for itself.

What a fun day we had. It was fun to see some of the kids eager to wear their new jammies again today after church. It all felt like it was worth it. It was nice to make those memories and all work together to pull it off. This day was a really special one 💜

Hi, Laela here again! I’m so excited for today! First day off from school! I bet all the kids are excited. School’s great, but a break is good sometimes. Today I’m going to have so much fun! I’ll eat good food, give good gifts, and get good gifts. (I hope.) And mom is making delicious treats! Candy cane bark, peppernuts, Chocolate oreos, lemon oreos, jam-jams, puppy chow, 2 different kinds of party mix, cranberries with a fun coating, and dehydrated marshmallows. WOW!🤩 Don’t you want her to bake for you?!

Well I know you probably have things to do for the break, so just reminding everybody, “You better watch out! You better not cry! You better not pout, I’m telling you why, Santa Clause is coming, to town!” Merry Christmas!🎄

Thats a wrap for the 2025 portion of the school year! 🥳 The kids are home for the next couple of weeks, and fuuuuull weeks they will be! Hopefully with some rest thrown in there. Little bit 🤏 Maybe. We’ll see.

The Christmas play was really cute. The music was SUCH a win this year. All three of my children sang ALL of their songs, did ALL of their actions, and even danced playfully at the right times. No one struggled or bailed or even stared blankly. They all did GREAT. I was super proud of them. And it didn’t hurt that my mom hung out at my house so Brady and I could go to the play together 💜 What a gift. Thank you, mom 💜

Speaking of gifts, we got all the teachers gifts out the door this morning. Rowan was our Santa, and loaded up a big bag of treats and cards for a bunch of select people, and distributed them himself. Of course Wavy and Solly gave to their teachers, but the rest was courtesy of Rowan. Meanwhile, the day continued at home! Cher was over, helping me keep things afloat. She cleaned and helped with the kids, and I had a bath and baked even more. It feels good to be productive. Thank you, Cher 💜

The floors are cleaned. Carpets are vacuumed. Bathrooms are cleaned. Windows are cleaned. Switches and handles are cleaned. Oreos are baked and filled. Funfetti cookies are baked. Popcorn is popped. A yummy drink for tomorrow is half done. Groceries are ordered. Legs are even shaved. I think that is enough for today.

Oh except supper. Thats next. But Brady is on the books for supper today 💜 Thank you, Brady 💜

Thank you, Lord, for all you’ve given us 💜 I love you.

It is that special time of year where the kids bring ridiculous things to youth and trade them out for other ridiculous things 🤣 Its fun. I LOVED youth gift exchanges as a kid, and they are no different. They anticipate them so much, and get nervous beforehand about whether their gift will be liked.

Last night, Dekker was gifted a small toy catapult. A CAT-a-pult. As in it flings little plastic cats. And the only reason I write a blog about it is because this boy is his dads son.

READING THE MANUAL before actually playing with it.

Anyway. He flung some cats, laughed a LOT, and is now brainstorming how to weight them so they can go even further 🤣

Love that kid.

It was a snow day today. School was CANCELLED! The kids were obviously totally stoked, haha!

However! Life still had to go on! 😅 So the kids played downstairs for the bulk of the morning. Cher came over to work. Brady left for work for most of the morning. And I continued to wrap gifts and do things in the kitchen.

The highlight of the worky part of the day was courtesy of Wavy, who took it upon herself to shovel the ramp. Which was totally redundant and completely adorable 😍

She came back inside after she was done, all rosy cheeked, and told me she made a path for the Amazon guy 🤣

May she always be THIS sweet 🙌 It was indeed the cutest little thing.

Good luck digging out tomorrow morning, everyone! Maybe if no one does, we can rock another snow day…