So about that early Christmas at my mom's I mentioned previously...great success! All the kiddos loved their girfts. The boys with Legos and Spider-Man (yes, that's how it's written) and Iron Man and Batman and army dudes and Hot Wheels. The girls with their crafts and glittery girly stuff which looks kinda cool I guess but remember I'm a dude who didn't grow up with sisters and has only had soon-to-be step-daughters for about five seconds so I'm still not really sure about the whole girl gift giving situation yet. So...
Yea, awesome. Which is exactly what E kept repeating with an added "this is sooo..." everytime he looked at his Iron Man race car and accompanying action figure. The kiddos were so stoked - did I just write stoked? - um, okay, they were super excited about the gifts bestowed upon them by my mom, Mema my brother and sis-in-law.
And vice versa, mom loved her book...details later...Mema loved her sweatsuits - you read that right, my grandma loves a good pair of sweats - and my bro and his ladyfriend were blown away by A's paintings of their doggies. They mentioned that they had no idea what to expect - ahem, except for sheer brilliance, right? - but that this was absolutely amazing.
Oh, back to the boys' gifts. I could've used "toys" there instead of "gifts," but then again I'm one to try and rhyme shoe with table. Anyhoo..they wanted to open everything right then and there, at 9P, an hour after their standard rate bedtime. Not happening. Lost Legos and missing army guns upon the day of receipt, at my mom's? At night? On the first day of winter that happened to be very un-wintry? That's got no good written all over it. All signs point to "no."
They opened them instead this morning, after attempting to wake us up at 6...6:30...7....7:30....8...then 8:11 or something. I finally rolled out of bed in a zombie-esque state and offered up the way things were gonna go down: all the boys were gonna take baths first, put on clean clothes after, eat breakfast, clean up after themselves when they were done...then I would help build Lego lands and children's imaginations.
UPDATE: As I was writing this, E and J-Boy came into my office upset that G wouldn't let them play with his new Lego set because "the babies always break them." I told the "babies" that they were technically G's toys to control - he was the "boss" of them we say - and while sharing would be supercool, these are brand new toys and he's likely to want to play with them for a bit without the help of others.
I told E that just like when he doesn't let Lil' B play with his Iron Man ball because he simply doesn't want him to, that it's the same thing when G doesn't want him to play with his stuff. And a + b = c...
But, I imagined that sooner than later he'd allow them to play with the Legos when they weren't so fresh outta the box. That seem to...I guess calm them down? I'm sure that they got no satisfaction from it, but when I told E that I "was gonna steal his nose," he laughed and ran off. So there's that...
Kinda went off in a tangent. Wasn't I talking about the early Christmas at my mom's? Yea. About that...the brisket fajitas were really quite muy sabroso! And queso, well that's always right on time. Oh, and then my mom made Snickerdoodles - my personal fave. So that was a win for the books. And she made some cupcakes with this buttercream (?) icing that ruled cupcakeland, or at least is a shoe-in for the next election.
So now we wait for Christmas Christmas and the rest of the opening of gifts from my mom for the kiddos, and from my dad for the kiddos, and everything from us for the kiddos, kiddos, kiddos, kiddos...
I do want, however, the kids to know the real reason behind the presents, the lights, the trees, the get-togethers, the yadda yadda yadda. But we always say that right?
Nobody celebrates the real reason, but the novelty reason built up around it. The store-bought reason. And that is great for kids, kinda. Maybe. Maybe not so much. I'm still battling with it. I mean as a kid, Christmas to me was about "me, me, me what did I get, wait why did they get that but I didn't?" And that's what it still is for kids today. Perpetuated my the world around us...and believe it or not, by us. Shocker.
And while you can't take the present giving out of Christmas - that'd be oh-so Scrooge-like -we can add in to the holiday reasons for real celebration. Toss some Jesus in the mix aside from the dusty manger scene you have stashed in the corner of the room. And that may not even be Biblically accurate saying the Magi possibly got to Jesus when we was around 3 months old already living in a shack, not laying as a newborn in a manger. I don't know for certain, I wasn't there, but I hear things. So...
Yea. I think I heard somewhere that present giving was originally supposed to be symbolic of the gifts Jesus received when he was visited by those Magi. Gold, Frankincense and Mir. You know the story. At least before handing the kiddos their fifth action figure toy or crafts set...this year we're gonna tell them why we're giving them gifts on this day in the first place. And why they should be thankful to get anything in a world where so many more get nothing...
...ever hear of a couple bucks & a Bible? Exactly.
I had more points to banter on about, but the courts have already been superbusy with a lot of cases from a rotating cycle of miffed plaintiffs and defendants in Judge Brennan's office today...and I've completely forgotten where I was and what I wanted to talk about. Anyhoo...
Mom's Christmas went really great. Good stuff.
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