A Merry Christmas to All

I am always amazed at how little it takes to make a child happy. Each year I try to find the balance of getting the kids somethings that they want and will be excited about and keeping things simple enough not to reach overkill or boredom. After each child give their siblings a small gift (usually from the dollar store) and they open gifts from grandparents, and they get a gift from Santa, and from mom and dad. That is a lot of gifts!! We are talking about 10 gifts each! Plus any stocking stuffers. Luckily we were successful this year in reaching the balance, and with the help of my bargain shopping sister who took me to Kmart in July when all of their clearance toys were an additional 50% off and she had a 20% off that coupon we did Christmas without breaking the bank! I love it!Katie had a polly pocket Christmas- small and portable- my kind of toys Ben had a Lego Power Miner Christmas

Dallin received a few Megablocks King Arthur sets, but spent most of the weekend building this Struxx Dinosaur with his dad. I think the best gift for him was all the one on one time while they worked together.

I was worried Lauren would be disappointed with Christmas. She is at that in between age where toys aren't that exciting and everything else is too expensive. She has everything she needs and didn't really ask for much. She received craft supplies, a computer bag, and a computer game. Later when I asked her about her Christmas she said it was the best Christmas ever because all of the kids loved what she gave them and we were all happy, and she was completely sincere. She told me that now that she is older the excitement of Christmas for her is picking out gifts we will love. Lauren never ceases to amaze me. I'm so happy to see her growing and developing such a kind spirit. She does so much to bring peace to our family.

We missed being close enough to visit our extended family, but it was a very calm and relaxed weekend and it was a nice to do nothing for a change.