One of the ways we try to make sure Christmas morning is not just all about gifts is allowing the kids to open some early. They have quite a few grandparents and relatives who love to spoil them, so Christmas day can get a bit overwhelming otherwise.
Since Dave's dad and grandma live in Illinois, they send us a check each year for the kids. With this gift, we typically spend half on gifts for them to open and put the other half in their savings accounts. Because Grandpa McKinstry and Grandma Swan aren't there Christmas morning to watch the kids open their gifts anyway, these are great ones for us to give earlier in the month. The kids have time to enjoy them so much more as a result. We started opening the first week in December and each week they received another.
Here's the first night of gifts from Grandpa McKinstry:
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| Dave's mom often bought the kids toys from a company called Lakeshore Learning, from which I continue to find tons of great learning toys. These Alphabet learning locks were a hit with all the kids! |
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| Hadley just started showing an interest in Calico Critters and specifically asked for the kitty cat and rabbit sets. She was over the top excited when she opened this. |
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| Caleb got a new game and an art set with pastels (something he's never tried before). |
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| The kids loved their own toys but they also had fun checking out what their siblings received. |
The following week everyone got another gift from Grandpa:
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| A Nerf gun just like the one he'd hoped for! |
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| A living room set to use with her Calico Critters :) |
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| A rhino and hippo just like the ones Mr. Reid had spotted in Target one day and clung to as we went through the store - What a surprise! |
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| ...and some books that were a little less exciting than his new animals at the moment. |
The following week, Caleb and Hadley's gift came in a form that couldn't be wrapped. We decided to purchase tickets at the Sight and Sound theater in Lancaster, PA with the money Grandma Swan sent and take the kids to see Samson. Since they loved the Peter Pan production a local group of high school aged kids did recently, I knew they were old enough to sit through a theatrical production and enjoy it, but I didn't realize just how much they'd love this gift. They were completely mesmerized as they watched the Bible story brought to life and often belly laughed through the scenes. Hadley said her favorite parts were when they fought and defeated the Philistines since they were against God. We even got to take my granny with us as for her Christmas present so it worked out great. In the end, we were so glad we went this route and plan to do it again in the future.
Reid is a bit too little still to sit through such a long show or appreciate it, but he didn't feel left out in the least. He was very satisfied to spend the night with NaNa and stay with her all day. Not only did she let him open a couple gifts from her early, he also got to open his gift from Grandma Swan - a toy cash register.
The weekend right before Christmas, the kids also got to open their big gifts from my mom. Having gone through the whole Christmas run around with us when we were little, she said she knew that often if you get something Christmas morning there isn't time to put it together and play with it, so she thought it would be best to let everyone open things early and having them ready to go. Her forward thinking also helped so we didn't have to figure out how fit everything in our van to get it home; she delivered right to us. :)
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| Caleb guessed NaNa would be the one to get him the main thing he'd been wishing for - a hot wheels garage. His face in the next few pics says it all. |
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| Reid was harder to shop for because he wasn't really old enough to tell us what special toy he wanted. |
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| He loved this Nerf gun when were shopping at Target one day and played and played with it in the store, so I told Mom I thought it would be pretty exciting for him. |
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| He had a little trouble working it at first.... |
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| ...but he was proud to have it. |
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| Hadley received exactly what she'd hoped for from NaNa too - a Calico Critter house. Now she could really enjoy that little kitty family Grandpa got her. |
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| Mom and I cracked up when we noticed the boys were pretty into the Calico Critter house too. |
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| That only lasted though until she got the Hot Wheels garage assembled. Then they were all three checking that out. |
Thank you, Grandpa McKinstry, Grandma Swan, and NaNa for keeping these three sets of little hands busy. Mommy is still working on where to put all our new treasures. :)
