Christmas Eve

I just finished wrapping all the presents to put them under the tree and I have to say, I'm so happy. I tried so hard to have a Christmas with very few tangible gifts and I feel like it went perfectly. Each boy got a gift from a cousin, a gift from Uncle Chris, a gift from us, and a gift from Santa, the perfect amount! I never want my kids to equate Christmas with things, but rather memories. My ultimate goal for Christmas is to have no gifts, but instead we take a trip each year and leave on Christmas Day and the surprise is where we are going that wont be revealed until that morning.

We asked my parents for money instead of gifts to renew our children's museum membership, which we did today and was a great Christmas Eve day activity. I made each of the boys a pillowcase with fabric of something that pertained to them that year. This year, Duke's had donuts on it (this could probably be his fabric every year), and Will's had US geography on it as he's been fascinated with states and corresponding college football teams. The boys were totally uninterested in the pillowcases, but I think it's such a fun tradition that I just don't care. I can imagine the boys taking a few of their favorite pillowcases to college, and waiting anxiously for their Christmas pillowcases on their missions. I also decided stockings were not going to be filled with candy. I'm filling them with special snacks/favorite foods that I don't buy very often. Will: Pirate Booty and Baby Bell Cheese. Duke: Pistachios and Mac and cheese.

I would also like to point out that while I'm very happy with my less-materialistic Christmas, equally attributing to my joyful mood would be because Cort took the older boys to Sea World for the day yesterday while I finished all the shopping with Matt. It was awesome. I didn't feel rushed, or stressed. I think I might make a tradition of that as well--send everyone away for a day the week before Christmas.

The boys have been so much fun lately and I'm just so thankful for them. Duke thinks he is a Ninja turtle and changes his name weekly corresponding with his favorite ninja of the week. Will is obsessed with football and he would play it all day every day if I would let him. He just wrote a letter to Santa and it started out "Hi Santa, how is your wife?" Man, i love that kid. While every other kid is just asking for stuff, Will is asking about Mrs Claus. Matt is walking pretty steadily (although he does still seem to lean towards wherever the gravity takes him) and he has become a firecracker. He wants to be doing everything that his brothers are doing, and he climbs on everything (all of my boys have been climbers so this shouldn't surprise me but it still does for some reason). He also screams, but I guess I would too if I were the 3rd boy and couldn't talk and I needed everyone's attention. He is the first boy to say "Ma-Ma" first. He is also so perfectly plump. His cheeks are still so full and his body so solid. I just could munch on him all day.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow! Merry Christmas to all!


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