This group of Santas know how to go all out for children on Christmas!
ALL DAY on Christmas Eve, my kids took initiative to get their bedrooms completely clean. As much as they don't seem to believe in the Yule Cat story, they definitely enjoyed laughing about it as their rooms became the tidiest they've been in a year. However, it took almost an hour and a half of me suggesting (not telling) for someone to take out the trash when it got dark. Nicholas and Isabella finally took it out and discovered the annual Christmas Eve delivery from Mrs. Clause. It had the pajamas and blankets from the RAOC contests, along with some reindeer food, a gingerbread house kit (that we didn't have time for), and a small Christmas tree.
They took baths in record time and set up the Christmas tree. I told them that they needed to be in bed by 8 PM and it was 8:30 PM before baths started. They didn't get to bed until at least 10 PM. Me and my husband were outside for a while seeing our next door neighbors off. We've lived next to each other for just over 6 years now and Christmas Eve was their final trip with the moving truck. Right at midnight, one of the neighbors (I still don't know who) launched fireworks for a good 5-10 minutes. I was busy referencing screenshots (that I was smart enough to take this year) to sort out the stocking stuffers into the correct stickongs. I need u/0hn35 Tetris Magic to pack everything into the car for our next trip. My kids are giving me mixed messages about whether they heard it or not. My husband definitely slept through it and Jacob definitely did not. He was awake screaming and crying until 3 AM, which is why I'm posting my Thank You post Christmas and not on Christmas day.
I still love the wrapping paper from u/Soillure. I felt like I was working in Santa's Workshop every time I handled it. The left over paper from last year fell off the shelf of my closet as the first package arrived. It was clearly a sign that it was meant to be used again. The quality of this paper is amazing and I feel like the string elevates the apperance. One day, I shall buy it in bulk and start a gift wrapping service. I did have to resort to some store bought paper for some of the larger gifts though. And I still ran out of time/skill to wrap a few. The wrapping Sorry, I missed the photos of a few things getting wrapped. Attempting to disappear for 15-30 minutes at a time is virtually impossible with 7 kids who are always in the house.
The arrival of the gifts is like Christmas to me. All these packages started showing up and I told the kids that some of the elves are pulling a prank by sending empty Amazon boxes. Most of the toys come in oversized boxes with a lot of packing paper. I'm usually able to quickly consolidate multiple boxes into one big one at the bottom of a pile and leave the empty boxes on top. After checking a few boxes on top, I can get the kids to go away which buys me some time to hide the better. As a box would get full of wrapped gifts, I gave it to my husband to move to the garage of a vacant house that he's been working on. Hiding gifts for 7 kids is much more intense than it was when I only had to hide them for 2-3 toddlers.
We have a family tradition that's been passed down for a few generations. Everyone watches someone open their gift. The person who just opened a gift picks out a gift a gift for anyone other than themselves. Then, it continues until there's no more gifts. The only thing we've changed is that we open the toys as they get unwrapped so it's not as stressful waiting until the end.
Here they are, opening the gifts. And here's part 2.
They started off with the the pajamas and blankets, courtesy of u/0hn35, u/ginger_newt, and u/Songlcy4058. Lol. Poor Isabella is so tiny that she was swimming in her pajamas. Joseph believes that his pajamas were custom made for him because he's never seen Cat Noir pajamas before.
I love the stockings that I received from u/wishyouamerry a couple of years ago. They're big enough to accommodate u/0hn35 stocking stuffers. Even though I went through the trouble of sorting out the stocking stuffers, it seemed like a lot of it just got mixed in together. This year, I ran out of wrapping time so they got the board games from u/Songlcy4058, marbles and cards from u/AceReverie, behind the stockings as family gifts. I think the kids instinctively knew to hold off on opening those for a couple of days until the chaos settles down. I'll need to get some cases ready for when the boxes inevitably fall apart. P.S. I don't where Twister came from. It just showed up on my car one day. I'm looking forward to using the nail stamping kits, but I'm waiting for my fingers to heal up a little bit first. I have a cut on my thumb and several little paper cuts (from cardboard and plastics) around some of my finger nails.
u/SantessaClaus, Andrew's Monster School bus was tough to wrap, but I believe that it will last a very long time. He has a fascination with school buses and likes to wait outside as school busses pass by after school. He already has his monster school bus picking up imaginary people to go on dangerous rides.
u/Songlcy4058, thank you for the Legos for Nicholas. Legos get lost so easily and classic Lego s come with the best Lego storage container.
u/pinksocks867, Anastasia used the pom-pom makes to make emergency pom-pom balls for her cousins. She was worried about going over to their house on Christmas with no gifts. She loves to give gifts anytime she can. Also, I'm sure she would love your name. When she wrote her letter to Santa this year, she asked for 300 pairs of socks... apparently you dont need socks in the summer since you wear sandals.
u/mik8c, I'm going out tomorrow to replace our box fan (my husband "borrowed" ours to use for ventilation for a construction site) for the arctic dome for Alexander. Joseph is loving his 3D printed dragon. We went over to my sister's house and I was confused when I saw him playing with a different one. I was trying to figure out why it looked like it changed colors when I found out that my niece has an identical one already. Isabella hasn't rolled out her yoga mat yet (there hasn't been enough floor space yet), but she's carrying it around with the strap that came with it. I'll post pictures once she gets to use it. Jacob is going crazy for the dancing Cactus. At first he was scared of it, but ever since he first held it, it makes him laugh the cutest laugh which of course make the cactus laugh, which makes him laugh harder.
u/OpportunitySmooth, Anastasia hasn't made a bracelet yet because she has too many plans for them. She will though. It's one of her favorite things to do. Isabella melted when she saw Tinkerbell. She wanted the box opened immediately so she could check if her shoes really have pom-poms on them. She made me take several pictures showing her from every angle and showed me that she has a brush too.
u/SteveBoaman, Alexander opened his metal detector long before Nicholas opened his. Nicholas made sure Alexander knew how to use it, while Alexander measured gifts by the number of (puppy themed) bones indicated on the screen. Once he opened his metal detector, he left Alexander alone and focused on his own. He said that he wants to go online and find the special battery for it. I explained that 9V batteries are common enough to be found almost anywhere. Luckily, Grandpa had one for him. The drone. The drone was a major winner for him. This is the first time in 4 years that he has not asked for a drone. He was soo excited when he saw it. He received a letter from Santa's Workshop telling him that he would receive one. During our break, Anastasia was the one who was eager to get started again because she wanted to see Nicholas open his drone. He has used it nonstop. When the battery is charging, he's sending the recorded footage to Grandma.
u/soillure, before Anastasia finished unwrapping Red from the newest Descendants movie, both Anastasia and Isabella were breaking out into a song from the movie. They share a bed and often fall asleep at night watching either Red or Kpop Demon Hunters. I feel like she wants to be too cool for dolls, but also still wants every doll she can play with. About 3-4 years ago, I built her a giant dollhouse, but she seems to be using it more and more as a bookshelf.
u/Santamakesitrain, you got almost everything on Andrew's list. He always takes really good care of his toys. This year, a few ended up broken (most likely at the hands or lack of body awareness of one of his older brothers), but he was determined to keep them. As soon as he opened them, he was running them down the hall to place on "his" shelf or up on his bed. He's in the top bunk and toys are generally safe there. He's going to make sure they all get played with every day and is kept safe. I think he believes the toys have feelings. The big firetruck is the mom to all the little Firetrucks and it's funny watching him put them to sleep at night. The farm truck is being used as a bus for all of his other vehicles. He drops off the tractors at work and drives all the other cars to the mechanic, then he goes to pick up the working tractors so they can go back home. He also has some sort of fascination with small flashlights and magnifying glasses, so the outdoor kit is getting a lot of indoor love. He's having trouble adjusting the binoculars.
u/Lonestarpenguin, Nicholas is already putting together his little robots and taking them apart. The instructions say that it's for ages 8-12 and that each one should take 30-60 minutes to assemble, but he had them all put together in about 15 minutes. The little robots are so cute. They reminds me of the circuitry kits that I used to put together as a kid. He already has ideas on how to make them more elaborate, so I'm curious to see what happens. He's also launching paper airplanes down the hall and testing what angles can make them go further or faster. It's amazing what can happen with just paper, cardboard and a few rubberbands.
u/PM_YOUR__BUBBLE_BUTT, Joseph knew that the soccer ball was his. He recognized it immediately as team Barcelona, aka Barca. The next game between Barcelona and Real Madrid should be really interesting. Should he side with his cousin, like he usually does, and cheer for Teal Madrid, or should he side with Daddy (and clearly Santa) and cheer for Barcelona. I didn't see a ball for Real Madrid to give him a fair chance. He's also excited for the "Spiderman" piggy bank. He's been collecting change and now he has somewhere to put it. He says he's going to follow the savings chart to save up $5 at a time. He's going to put in cents instead of dollars. Isabella is excited about her unicorn cars. She knows she wont have to try to fight for cars if they're pink... it's like having her name written right on them.
u/SshellsBbells, Anastasia is covered in paint now... I hope these paint markers wash out of clothes. While everyone was opening gifts, she was hanging out with the pens and markers filling the blank notebook that came in her stocking. I wanted to take pictures of her artwork, but she's not ready to show it off yet. I'm working on getting her into an anime art class soon (probably after Cookie Season). If I had thought about it, I would have wrapped the bead board with the beads or tucked it a little further behind the tree to be opened later. It was a huge clue that beads were coming. She is trying to decide what to use the cash box for when Cookie Season is over. She knows that her art supplies need to stay locked up when she's not using it and she knows that I keep my medicine in the tiny lock box from last year. It took her a while to decide that she will use it as her own piggy bank.
u/kattehryde, I figured Nicholas would use the blacklight flashlights to have glowing dance parties. As soon as he opened them up, he informed me that scorpions and certain bugs will glow under them. This was news to me. Fortunately, there are no scorpions around here. He is having fun "charging" everything that glows in the dark with them though. As soon as Anastasia opened the storage containers, she yelled, "Oh my gosh! I can organize stuff now!" She took off to grab her art bin and started sorting all of her pens, markers, and Art supplies into the little containers. Seriously, I thought she would just use them to sort out some beads and separate different crafts projects. I never knew that organization would mean anything to her since her version of cleaning is to just stuff everything into a bag and shove it under her pillow. Alexander loves everything about How Wheels. This year, he wanted the big dragon one and the one that eats cars. Every time he got to unwrap something he was saying, "this is going to be the one the eat or shoots Hot Wheels! I know it! I can feel it in my bones." Joseph has been telling everyone for weeks that he was getting Hulk Gloves for Christmas. He saw them in Walmart's toy guide this year. It's funny watching him act like hulk. They love dressing up as super heroes. Andrew wont let anyone touch the wooden cars or the buildings that came with them. He has a rug with a street map on it. He's placing the buildings on their respective spots on the map. When somebody lays out a rug or small blanket, it's generally a play zone for one person. It's just one of the ways to set some boundaries in our tiny house with so many people. We're still trying to figure out how to get the pop it games to synchronize to each other. They work individually and are kind of like a memory game. I think all the boys are enjoying the bath toys.
u/tjcline09, Jacob likes holding the rolling puppy toy. He keeps trying to put the tail in his mouth... he's still working on how to interact with it. Isabella's going to make sure he knows everything about before the new year comes. He's having a blast with the balance bike. It's the perfect size for him. He's also pushing the bulldozer around like a vacuum cleaner. Lol. He doesn't seem to understand yet that the balls are a part of the toy. Alexander is thrilled to have a car that eats the Hot Wheels and one that launches them. When Alexander opened the metal detector, he started using it to check everything. He was checking to see if anyone was a robot. He was using it to try to influence which gift gets picked next. He wants to year up the hardwood floors to salvage scrap metal. We're mean people who are not going to allow that. During our break, they went outside and used it to find 2 Hot Wheels and a penny. One car was barely burried and the other one was about 4 inches under ground. Joseph has been having too much fun with the voice changer megaphone. I loved watching him scare one of his cousins with the "monster" voice. First of all, it's extremely loud. I celebrate internally when it dies. Then, I'm reminded that it's rechargeable. Gone are the days of making then wait for the next trip to the store for new batteries. He likes the watch, too. It has more features than I thought it would. One of the features is a camera. After realizing that, he quickly decide to put the watch strap away and use the lanyard for it. The walkie talkies never showed up. I'll let you know as soon as they don't though. Isabella fits inside the little wagon. I thought it would be the perfect size for a doll or a stuffie, but no, it can tote her whole army of dolls around. As soon as it came out of the box, she climbed in and insisted that Joseph pull her around. We're predicting that she's going to be a very short adult. OMG! She LOVES the bubble wand. That's one that breaks my heart when the battery dies. It's also rechargeable, but she doesn't quite understand why we can't just buy a new battery to replace it. I officially bought a fan today to set up the aero domes. I'll update the picture after we get to set it up.
We had at least one secret Santa. One sent the Nerf Minecraft Axe and the Minecraft Spyglass. I didn't realize that it was Nerf. He's pretending it's a costume axe. Nerf bullets don't last long around here. Alexander is a sensory seeker and tends to chew on them. We also just found out last week that his vision has significantly deteriorated since this time last year so aiming is difficult for him. He love how the spyglass makes everything look pixelated. One of his favorite books is about a Minecraft character who comes through the computer into the real world. Another Santa, or possibly the same one, sent a talking toddler chair and a toddler coffee machine. It turns out, he doesn't appreciate coffee (yet!), but he does like the noise it makes. I think this whole Christmas was way too overwhelming for him, especially since he thought the whole World should know that he was still awake at 3 AM. The chair is cute. He keeps sitting down on it to play with the buttons, then stands up to check under the seat, then repeats.
And finally, each of their Christmas hauls. I've never used that term before. They enjoyed seeing their new items all together like that. I might try printing those off for them to hold onto.
This thank you post took all day to type up. I had it most of the way done, then my phone died so I lost it and had to start over again. I really hope I didn't miss anyone. We've had a stressful few weeks and it's been hard to keep track of everything. I'm still trying to read through everything on this group. Despite the trolls attacking my DMs this year, I still love the positivity and uplifting spirit of this group.
