A few years ago I got a book about family rituals all around this country and how different families approach holidays and birthdays in ways that accentuate togetherness and family rather than on stuff. While reading the Christmas section I got a great idea for an advent calander that would be cheap and cause the family to spend more time together. This woman wrapped one book under the tree every day before Christmas in the month of December. She would buy some books but would also get books from the library. She did this every year and gave them some of the same books, which they loved because it became a nostalgic tradition. I decided to go to the library that very day and get all the books on Christmas I could find and then got a few movies we didn't have and some that were christmas themed. I didn't start until Dec. 5th. I used brown paper bags for a recycled (and cheap) wrapping paper and started giving them one present a night. It was so exciting for them and they loved reading the stories with me. Like most books we get, they were finished reading them after a few days and I could just return it to the library with no upsets.
We bought some books for us to keep year to year. We had books on christmas carols, traditions around the world, and on people who don't have any toys for Christmas. This was a good start for a what I hope to be a long tradition.
Next I needed to start getting ready for the big day. What was going to come from Santa Claus? I decided to look on craigslist to see if there was any toy lots for sale. I found one with an Imaginetics lot for sale 2 miles from my house. I went over to check it out. I was pretty skeptical that it would be in good enough condition. I went to the house and a little boy about 7 was the one selling the toys. He really wanted some leggos but needed some money for his old toys to get them. I probably would've bought dog poop from him. Anyway, the toys were great and the lot new would have been worth over $300 and I got it all for $65. It was a great deal. Everything was in great condition. I loaded it up in 2 giant suitcases and saved it for the big day.
Midway to Christmas Hudson started telling me he really needed to talk to Santa Claus because he wanted to make sure that he got him a light saber and a transformer car for christmas. So I took him to the Holiday Express exhibit at the Museum Center, who every year has the same Santa Claus with a real beard, who is also, enormously patient with the kids. Truly a saint. I got him in line and it was long. He waited and waited and waited so patiently. He really wanted to tell Santa what he wanted (I couldn't help thinking about Ralphy in The Christmas Story). Eli on the other hand was in one of Dante's circles if you know what I mean. We finally got to Santa and Hudson was sooo ready to tell him. He sat on his lap and said I want a light saber and a transformer car. This Santa was pretty well trained at not over promising and I could tell Hudson was distressed that he wasn't fully committing to these items so he repeated himself several times. Poor guy. I called the grandma's when I got home to let'em know what he wanted.
Since, we were doing Christmas morning at my mom's she wanted to give them some presents from Santa, too. Overall, they had an amazing Christmas all in a good budget and we enjoyed our time together...
Here are some christmas day photos:
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