Happiness is Shared: Christmas Morning

*post is from December 25th 2010

Santa came and once again our kids managed to escape from the naughty list.
With 4 kids, it creates quite an avalanche of presents under the tree!
I had been wrapping for two nights in a row, organizing all the gifts by child,
making sure each one had an equal amount to open.

I have many wonderful memories of coming down the stairs as a little girl
to see Christmas gifts for five kids flooding the living room floor.
It's fun to pass the tradition on.

Most of the gifts we wrapped were things the kids needed,
such as winter clothing, socks, underwear, etc. to help create the effect.

Santa brings the big toys.

This year Baila asked Santa for an American Girl Doll "Julie,"
and mailed him her wish list early in December.
She also had her heart set on a lady bug pillow pet.
Travis and I got right on it, and tried to get the important items purchased early.

About one week before Christmas I was walking through a store with Baila
when she told me it was a bumble bee pillow pet she wanted,
and the lady bug was her second choice. Oh crap.

She then revealed that the American Girl doll was no longer on her list,
and all she really really wanted was a Zhu Zhu pet. Oh $%*#

You can imagine my face as I asked in a nervous voice
-gulp-
"are you really sure you don't want the American Girl Doll Julie?"
her: "no, I don't want it all.
Mommy what I really really really want is a Zhu Zhu princess named Jilly
and a bumble bee pillow pet."

Wish I had known she had preferred a $6 Zhu Zhu pet to an American Girl Doll!

I frantically got on E-bay to find this Jilly Zhu Zhu pet,
and of course the one she wants is going for a ridiculous price.
I could buy 5 Zhu Zhu's for the price of Princess Jilly.
I finally scored one for $1.60 and couldn't believe my luck,
but after paying for it noticed the seller was from Hong Kong.
In my rush I had forgot to check his location!
So I was back on E-bay again and searching
every store in town for that dang hamster.
Everybody was out of Zhu Zhus around town,
but I finally won a Jilly on E-Bay from the US
and thankfully the seller sent it priority.
I also won an entire set of different color Zhu Zhus at a great price
for future friend birthday gifts.

Of course it's my luck that on Christmas Eve I was shopping at Target
and there on the shelf was a Jilly Zhu Zhu on sale. :O
It seems like every year this happens to me
with at least one of the kids asking Santa for a difficult item that I go on a hunt for!

But the extra Zhu Zhu's I had purchased came in handy
when my sister Tamara called me in a panic on Christmas Eve.
Her son Ethan had asked Santa for a black or brown Zhu Zhu pet
and it was the only thing he wanted. (besides Stinky the truck which he was NOT getting)
She had bought the Ninja Zhu Zhu armor not realizing the actual hamster
was not included until she went to wrap gifts.
Tami was sweating bullets when every store in town was closed,
and frantic to find any boyish colored Zhu Zhu.
Thankfully I had a brand new in the box
brown and black Zhu Zhu sitting in my closet,
and she raced over to my house late that night to buy them from me.
I could have made a pretty penny on those if I had wanted. ;)

These Christmas emergencies remind me of the year Lainey (age 5)
had asked Santa for the Lilo and Stitch stuffed animal
from Disneyland with the blinking red nose.
She had seen it in Downtown Disney's huge gift shop and begged us for it.
I would have bought it there, but didn't want her to see us with it,
so we opted to wait until we returned home.
Well that turned out to be a huge mistake!
I would soon learn there are many items in Disneyland gift shops
that are exclusive to the Park.
They don't sell them online, over the phone, or at the shopping mall Disney Stores.
I tried for weeks on E Bay to find the blinking red nosed "Stitch" with no success.
Meanwhile all Lainey could talk about was the red nosed Stitch
and how that's the only thing she wanted for Christmas.
She just "KNEW" Santa was going to bring it since she had been a good girl.

I was really mad at myself after finding out that
since we were guests at the Disneyland Hotel,
they would have wrapped the gift right there and had it sent to my hotel room.
Lainey would never have known we bought it.
I was so desperate to get this Stitch plush that I almost asked my Dad
to stop by Downtown Disney on his way home from Arizona.
I knew he would think I was crazy, so I didn't bother,
but I felt terrible that Lainey was going to wake up on Christmas morning
without the only gift she wanted.

By Christmas we had found a cute Stitch plush that was very similar,
except no blinking red nose.
I know she was a teeny bit disappointed that morning with it,
but tried to show us how happy she was with her stuffed animal.
It was really sweet.

This year Lainey wanted clothes from "Justice"
and this cute sleeping pug dog that mimics breathing.
She's had that item on her list for three years now and even at age 10 still wanted it!

She was very happy to finally have new school clothes!

Her big wish list items were a golf club set or camera.
Travis had too much fun picking out a golf set for Lainey.
She has a really good swing, and wants to get a golf scholarship for college already.
He's been working with her each night over Christmas break.
I can see us battling for Lainey's future already: the ballerina vs the golfer. haha
He told me Lainey's summers will be reserved for golf and NO DANCE! LOL

Luke's Christmas list this year was a bit eccentric, as usual. He asked for a light up Eiffel tower model,
and a circular clothing rack from Macy's.

*picture from here

Luke has been crazy about Macy's for years, and is giddy when we go shopping there.
You should have seen his devastation when our local Macy's had been set on fire.
I frequently caught this kid googling our shopping mall, waiting for it to reopen all month.

He didn't get the clothing rack, but Santa did bring him a golf set.
Travis found this set used on Craigslist for an incredible price and had them polished up at a golf shop.
They looked brand new!

Santa also brought him the Eiffel Tower with lights
(we were on a time crunch!) LOL

Santa also brought him an Eiffel Tower wooden model kit

Luke had this put together in less than an hour.
Mom gave him the big Smurf he wanted, exclusively from Macy's.

a bow and arrow and sling shot for our cub scout

As usual, Isabelle wanted a REAL dog for Christmas.
She got a fake one. :(

Izzy is still the biggest dog lover in the whole world. While at dinner with friends recently, all Isabelle did the whole night was pet their dog. She sweetly told the owner with a little sigh
"All I've ever wanted is a dog just like this one."
It's very cute and sad how much she wants a dog. It breaks my heart to see how much she wants one. We are still working on Travis so we can adopt a dog in need.
The first question she asks upon meeting someone new is "do you have a dog?"
She also wanted a unicorn and dog pillow pet for Christmas.

Here are Izzy's gifts:

Zhu Zhu pet "Peaches"

Tinkerbell roller skates

(which we had to return because they didn't fit right)

Wooden cake and pizza for her kitchen

Opening her Toy Story 3 Figure Set

Baila's other gifts:

She begged us for a lollipop set.

Baila had this locker erase board from Justice on her wish list

Baila has always been our jokester, and loves to perform magic tricks for us.

When I found this kit, I had to get it!

Santa brought her a golf putter just her size

The American Girl Doll "Julie" was perfect for Baila with the long blond hair.

Aftermath

Luke.
He was having strong doubts about Santa this year
and kept trying to catch us making a mistake in our efforts to keep the magic alive for him.
All month he would ask really challenging questions about Santa,
the kind where all you can say is
"you have to believe if you want Santa to bring you presents." haha
He would also try to trap us into admitting gifts from the past had been from us and not Santa.
We were constantly being tested.

When Nana showed up with a new outfit for Baila's Julie doll, he was on it right away:
"Hey Nana, how did you know Santa was going to bring Baila a Julie doll? Ah HA!" he exclaimed with this wicked little grin. Nana was caught off guard and defensively fumbled for a good explanation. LOL

Oh well, at least we got 8 years of magic with him. Lainey was already skeptical in Kindergarten!
Our only worry is he will spill the beans to the little girls. He's been duly warned!