New Year's Eve - the very last day of 2012.
Michael and the older ones tried to view the Hobbit again. This time the film worked through all the reels.
I treated Stacia to any restaurant of her choice. She chose Burger King - she loved this very rare treat. We then went shopping for a few treats at the commissary and BX.
The kids weren't totally SURE when we'd open presents. They know we have separated a family gift exchange from our celebration of Jesus' birthday, they know we "always" open gifts before the Twelve days of Christmas are over. Michael and I decided New Year's Eve needed some jazzing up this year (and I'll blog about it before bed tonight - 1 Jan - or die trying - LOL ).
What you need to now for THIS post is, Stacia was chosen to pick a clue from this bag... We told her she needed to read the message.
She deciphered "Gift Time," and said it wasn't much of a clue. ::snort:: She figured it out a bit later than the older ones.....
We opened gifts from Bre (which weren't here when we opened the ones from Krista and my folks).
She made these necklaces for each of us - to fit our interests. Arielle's had a toothbrush and toothpaste on it! ::snort::
Opening our "girl's gift".
Sparkly confetti - which is a family gift - and we're sure to use!
The girl's gift was glitter gel for cheeks - can't really tell.
Ear muffs!
Gloves I can wear ALL day and work in.
PRECIOUS! Zander said, "I figured everyone was getting tired of your old ties!"
Arielle learned to knit this year...and she's done socks, hats, pillow covers, tie, gloves, scarves.... I can't figure out what happened to the photo of Stacia's scarf...and she didn't make Michael anything yet.
Pillow case cover - which I quipped would make a great hat....
Then discovered she MADE me one!
We got the kids each a gift....Arielle's main gift is a series of books, but we're waiting to work out the "kindle issue" before we buy them. We did get her a t-shirt from the mall.
Wii game
Gundam model
Playing with my toys and not moving on! ::snort::
She was surprised - and I'm not sure HOW - as she's begged for this for months.
Nail stamps - she's happy. We'll all The girls will have fun with this.
Finally found them!
Complete Series of Red Green. We started watching these in MT and have not been able to keep up as many spots don't carry them.
Two definite themes emerge when you consider my gifts.... I'm COLD and I'm learning a new style of cooking....
I am SURE this will make my stir fry meals much less of mess to cook....and look how shiny!
YES - a good variety. I asked each giver if they'd try whatever I made from their gift...AND WROTE THEIR NAMES IN THE BOOK to assure their compliance be sure I remember which book is from whom.
There were other gifts as each of us bought for each of the others - but you get the idea. It felt just right this year - though we all felt something some ones were missing!
Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...
4 comments:
SIS: We enjoyed seeing all the gifts. Kniting looks great. That green hat looks great on you. So glad fun was had by all. love/prayers - mom.t
I love the idea of expressing our faith in the Twelve Days of Christmas, but we haven't shifted the gift giving to those days (yet). Love love the idea!
Mom, I've been impressed with all her knitting. She's been trying to teach Stacia who is DESPERATE to learn but with Stacia being left-handed we aren't having very much success.
Mel - it's been an evolving thing for us. We changed gift giving the first year by accident as the older kids were coming in but weren't here for Christmas. We liked it. We thought of waiting until Jan 6th - but then MIchael would be back at work - so this works well for us.
We don't see the 12 days in the word - but the practice does seem to really slow down the season, destress it for us...and our focus is totally different than it was 10 years ago. LOL
My big joke is the gift exchange has to be after the clearance sales begin.
I think next year we may do the 25 day hunt/advent thing a bit differently....we had some saved we didn't get done before Christmas Day and so have it split...some before and then the 12 days and we like that.
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