The Eve of Christmas 2008

Christmas eve we had our traditional ham dinner. Aaron found the almond in his pudding, so he got the surprise He was kind enough to share his chocolate orange with all of us. One of my favorite parts of the night was when Aaron read us "The Polar Express." He did a great job complete with character voice changes and showing us the pictures. We played "fill in the blank" when Todd read the nativity story from the bible. He would pause every few words and see if we remembered the next phrase. We found that between the kids and I, we knew the nativity story pretty well. We sang some Christmas songs complete with guitar, keyboard and microphone. Then the kids opened their pajamas and gifts from the family drawing.

Every year I buy new pj's for Todd and I when I buy the kids theirs. I always wrap mine up and put them under the tree and say they are from Santa or from Todd... I decided I wasn't getting any pj's for me this year. When my plan was discovered, I received some gentle encouragement to keep up the tradition, and broke down and bought some. I couldn't keep up the facade this year though, the label on my present said: To: Ang From: Ang. I can't keep pretending that someone, other than me, buys, wraps and places my pj's under the tree.

Aaron felt a little bad when he found out that his sisters had bought him a gift and he did not buy one for them. They told him it was ok and that he could do "things" for them that would be better than buying them a present...like not annoying them. They wrote him a list and put on the fridge. Here are the things he is not allowed to do anymore... squeal, yell make annoying sounds, throw the ping pong ball around the house, play drums with no pads, play drums early in the morning, "buggy" things, touch them, be loud, getting involved in other people's business, make whistle noises, make pouty faces, throw tantrums, and stand within two feet of them. I don't think a list like this for a 10 year old boy was a very fair exchange for not getting them a present. He is giving it his best shot though.