Sunday, December 28, 2008

christmas round up

Well Christmas has been and gone and my house looks like some sort of holiday war zone. A tad embarrassing when we had unexpected visitors pop in tonight. Luckily it was Mike's cousin (and the mom of four herself) so she took it all in stride.

And now onto the Christmas breakdown.

The greatest gift of all......
Having Dave and Mel home with us, hands down. They had thought about, perhaps, extending their stay in Holland until the New Year, but luckily for us they didn't. We were all thrilled to see them even if they were suffering from jet lag.

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Running a close second, my brand new Kitchen Aid mixer (professional model!!!!). I got a little teary eyed and everything when the girls helped me unwrap it. One, because it is so pretty and such a luxury that words cannot even express how thankful I am to my family for gifting it to me. Two, because it means my Grandma's mixer and I will soon be parting company. Yes I know I have complained many times about how unattractive it is in these days of pretty appliances, but it was my Grandma's. She was such an amazing lady and I can only hope to be a fraction of what she was. Never fear though, Grandma's mixer is not being abandoned, but rather finding a new home with my Mom.

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Gift with the biggest learning curve......
My new camera. It is beautiful and exactly the one I wanted. It also has a lot of bells and whistles and settings to figure out, but I triple love it. Today I actually had some time to install the software and user manual on my computer. Boy do I miss paper manuals. I hate reading them on the computer. I'd much rather have a book to flip through. It does take lovely natural light photos.

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Gift we've had the most fun with....
No question.... the Wii. Even having discussed it beforehand, Mike was not exactly pleased with me when I purchased the Wii. I was just so excited I managed to find one, relatively easily I might add thanks to Granny that I ignored his pouting. Especially considering it was something we'd already agreed on. Christmas morning Abby had zero interest in it. In fact she had no idea what a Wii even was. So Mel and I turned it on and bowled some frames while Abby watched, still not willing to try, but by that afternoon she decided to give it a shot and in no time she was bowling strikes (and bowled a 155). By Boxing Day, coincidentally, she was the knock out Queen in boxing. Even Mike had to admit it was a whole lot of fun and a worthwhile purchase.

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Gift we saw the most of....
Well word must have gotten around that we love Family Game night here! We received board games from just about everybody. Memory, Guess Who, Lockout, Cadoo and Seinfeld Scene It, which has a Party Play mode. So ladies, and you know who you are, expect a game night invitation in your future!

Most cyptic gift......
From Dave and Mel who gave us a postcard of a picture of Holland that said they were still working on our gift, but it was awesome and, presumably, worth the wait.

The gift that was in line with our family dynamic.....
The pizza stone, for make your own pizza night.

The gift that will give me the most anxiety....
The Wal Mart gift card from Grandma Sandi. As much as I love gift cards I torture myself with how to spend it. Mike always insists I spend it on myself knowing that my instinct would be to purchase something for the kids or the house or the family. I'm leaning towards dvds. Sex and the City seasons are on for dirt cheap this week. Or I could finish up my Seinfeld collection. Or The Office. Or maybe a game for the Wii. Or a Lego game for the Xbox. Sigh.

My favourite gift to give......
Knowing that things were going to be tighter this year I had to get creative with my gift giving. For the Grandparents I devised a club for each of them and enrolled them in it. For example Grandma Sandi was enrolled in the Scrabble Game of the Month club. Meaning once per month we'll host a Scrabble game complete with dessert and coffee. These gifts were very warmly received by all the Grandparents which made me immensely happy. The gift of time is truly the greatest gift of all.

The rest of Christmas as full of family, jammies, chocolate, movies and colouring books. So basically it was awesome!

Check out all the pictures at flickr.

5 comments:

Mommy Project said...

Wow! It sounds like you had a completely wonderful and fantastic Christmas. I'm so happy for you. :)

Leah said...

we debated the purchase of a Wii this year, but never ended up agreeing on the purchase. At least it was a mutual inability to agree. We were both second-guessing it! LOL Glad to hear you're enjoying yours!!

sounds like the day was fabulous and full of family and fun gifts.

Betsy Hart said...

Does sound like you had a wonderful Christmas! Enjoy that Wii, it is so much fun!! If you get a chance try the wii fit pad, its a bit spendy, but so FUN!

Julie said...

Sounds like an awesome day. What kind of camera did you get? I would love a new one and am asking around to see what people like (even though it will probably be another year before we can buy one!)

Shan said...

Normie - thanks buddy. I really wished yours had been less stressful.

Leah - it was, thanks. As for the Wii I really can't say enough nice things about it.

Betsy - oh I've already been on the lookout for a Wii fit. Not easy to come across right now, but maybe for my birthday.

Julie - It's a Fuji finepix s1000. And I really love it. My first digital was a fuji that I loved, my second was a Canon that I had a love hate relationship with. I'm still trying to figure it all out, but I am very happy with it thus far.