Merry Christmas! How Our Day Went

I'm evidently a very bad blogger now as I did not wish my readers a Merry Christmas! I do hope you all had a wonderful day with your family celebrating our savior's birth. I was so busy enjoying mine I forgot about the computer except for a status update or two on my FB.

We had a blessed day. We were awakened by Emma coming up to our bed and saying "It's 7:30, why isn't anybody up yet!?". Victoria and Caed were both sleeping in and I guess she had had enough of laying in her bed patiently. We got up and turned on the heat (brrr, it was cold!) and Rick made coffee. The children were in awe at the two biggest boxes they had seen in their lives sitting in front of the entertainment center. Indeed, they were the biggest Rick and I had ever wrapped. Mommy sat trying to erase a bunch of unneeded pictures so we could use the camera because we forgot to get a new chip! Rick read the Christmas story from the bible and then handed out the stockings.
After stockings they got to open the main gift. The girls finally got new bikes. They have never had new bikes so Rick and I worked very hard to make that happen this year. Our focus was on gifts to get them moving. Caedmon has had a pretty new bike for a while now so he got a combo big gift of a Spiderman scooter and the Fisher Price Imaginex Batman Castle he has drooled over for three years! He was very excited too. Grandma and Grandpa got them the tetherball they really had been wanting (there is a pole at the back of our complex) so they spent many fun hours outside in the later morning and early afternoon. The day turned out to be gorgeous. I think it must have got up to 65 degrees. Though I would trade it for snow any day, it was a good day for outside gifts.
We purposefully waited to give them their gift from my grandma because it was a Wii! Instead of separating the money she sends for Christmas and mine and the girls birthdays, we pulled it all together to make this happen. For near 13 years Rick and I have not purchased any game system or our children. They used my old Nintendo to play the retro stuff but that was it. We never liked kids parking themselves for hours of doing nothing. The Wii we felt was a perfect compromise since it involved movement. My mom gave me birthday money and I am so excited that I got to purchase the Wii Fit system. In the new year I will be learning Yoga! I tried it out on my friends system a few months ago and thought it was amazing! We are all very excited. The girls screamed out loud when they opened the box, and then they took off running down the road (Emma in her socks) to tell their neighbor friend (who got a Wii that morning for Christmas) that they got one too! It was very fun. Caedmon did not run down with them though, he actually ran back to his bedroom to work on his Sponge Bob Lego's from Grandma and Grandpa O. that he loved. He really did not get what the Wii really was. Now he loves it and is very good at boxing and knocking the guy out. He makes the "push! push!" punching sounds while he plays despite the fact that the game makes the hitting sound effects for you. The girls are thoroughly annoyed by this but Rick and I thought it was so cute.
My dear husband got me some real roller skates! I've wanted some for years. I'm an old school girl and don't like roller blades. I'm really looking forward to getting out there while the kids are biking and trying to catch up with them. I use to be able to spin and skate backwards. Give me some Roxette in my headphones and I'll be a happy girl!:)
It was just a good day of hanging out and spending time together. We did not go anywhere at all all day long. It was great.
In the evening my mom and brother came by and it was time to celebrate Victoria's birthday. I will be doing a "What I Like About You" post for her soon. She is now 12! Amazing. We had brownies and candy cane ice cream (I have yet to have any as I was so tired of food by then). Nana gave her two new dresses , some great funky nail polish and a cotton candy perfume spray, Grandma and Grandpa sent a movie and a book called "Better Than Beauty: A Guide To Charm". I better not read that one, I'll be way to aware of my lack of charm...LOL! They also got her some lights for her new bike. Rick and I got her a Wii dance pad and game but the pad did not work so we have a return to make. Grrr. The dance games are great exercise! She is anxious to try them out. I think her favorite present though was from her Aunt Joan and Uncle John. It was a horse jewelry box with her name engraved on the front.
We ended the day watching The Nativity movie. I forget how much I love that movie. Despite the inaccuracy of the timing of the wise men coming, it's just such a good telling of the story. I enjoy ending the day with the real meaning of the day.
Before I go though, I would like to highly recommend the Veggie Tales Saint Nicolas movie. We personally have always told our kids who the real Santa was and what he did. I think the attention to him for who he really was through this little movie is so great though. I am absolutely sure that Saint Nicolas, were he here, would be appalled that we have idolized him and more than that let him take the spotlight Christ deserves at Christmas especially in the hearts of the little children. I know that is an unpopular view to take but I think we need to honor the man properly and remember what he did without adding the fiction elements turning him into something he himself would be ashamed of.
I hope to share our few pictures soon!
Blessings to you all and enjoy the celebration as it continues! Epiphany is still to come!