steve and tif: Christmas Adam and Christmas Eve

Since it was our first year staying home for Christmas some new traditions were born.

First of all, Cody requested that we carry on the Cramer tradition of putting codes on the presents instead of names. This year Steve and I decided to do Arthur (based on the cartoon aardvark) and his family (the Read family) since Arthur is the oldest and he has two younger sisters just like our family. So Cody was "A.R." for Arthur Read, Kylee was "D.W.R." for D.W. Read, and Olivia was "B.K.R." for Baby Kate Read. We also had a few games and family presents so our family code was "T.R.F." for The Read Family. It was funny to hear the kids talking about what the codes might be. Especially when Cody was sure that "T.R.F" was his code because there were way more family presents than individual ones.

On Christmas Adam (the day before Christmas Eve) we made personal pizzas. Kylee had a Pizza Hut Book It! certificate from school for a free personal pan pizza. Kylee thought she was pretty hot stuff with her very own pizza in its very own little box. On the drive home she kept peeking in her box and smiling. We decided that the other kids would think it was fun to make a little pizza of their own too. The tradition is official!

On Christmas Eve everyone got to open one present (the ones that the kids gave to each other and to us). So, at 7:00 am on Christmas Eve morning, Steve rolls over in bed and says we should open our presents. You might be thinking it's a little early to be doing that. I was thinking that too, but then I realized that the fact that Steve had waited this long to open his presents was pretty monumental and that I should just go with it. Well, the kids had the same idea. A few minutes later the kids came in our room asking if we could open up our presents right away.

I'm really glad we opened them up early. We were able to enjoy our gifts all day long together. Plus, we had been invited to eat dinner with a few families so if we had waited to open them we wouldn't have had all that time to play.

Cody had to dig to find the gifts that we wanted to open.

Cody and Kylee made some "secret" gifts of their own for Steve and were so excited for him to open them the next day. They had each made some creations out of Legos (that we already owned) and wrapped them up themselves. It was all their idea and doing. On the outside of Cody's box he wrote "fragile". Too bad Steve would have to wait until Christmas to open them!

Our Christmas Eve gifts!

Cody and Kylee couldn't wait for Livy to open her present. They wanted her to go first.

Actually, I couldn't wait either. I knew she would love it.

She knew exactly what it was (but not many people would).

It's a pig named Mercy Watson from one of her favorite book series.

It was love at first sight and she still carries her around everywhere she goes.

That night, when we were headed to dinner at the Clay's, there was a chilly wind as were getting in the car. I had my hands full with a pot of soup and everyone else was carrying stuff too so Livy (holding Mercy Watson, of course) had to wait a minute before we could put her in the car. All of a sudden she said, "Mercy Watson is cold!" It was her way of saying she wanted to get in the car quickly!

Steve and the kids surprised me with a game that we actually bought for Raquel and Brady this year for Christmas too. It's a fun one!

A few weeks before Christmas Kylee made a wish list. She wrote: girl legos, a pony, and a watch. This girl lego set from Cody and Livy included a pony. Talk about dreams coming true! That, my friends, is a true Kylee smile.

It's a parent pay day when you get smiles like that.

Kylee loves the little tiny translucent legos (she calls them lights). When Cody and Kylee play legos together there is a chance that you will hear some squabbling about "lights" because Kylee tries to take them all and then Cody can't use them for his projects. Cody promptly picked out the lights in her new set here and she was happy to have her very own lights in baby blue.