I wanted to frost Christmas cookies.  The problem is I don’t make a decent sugar cookie. I just don’t.  [I won’t elaborate.]  And we can’t buy the pre-made because of Stewart’s allergies.  So, I split the difference and bought the Pillsbury roll out variety.  I still stink at making them.  The dumb things stick to the counter, stick to the rolling pin, get misshapen as I transfer them to the sheet, etc.  They look sort of funny, but they taste good and they were fun to frost.  Tabitha and Marie PILED the treats on the top.  Stewart demonstrated his maturity in the care he took with his and the simplicity he sought.  Nigel was a little of both.  ALL WERE HAPPY and it brought me great gladness to do it with them.  They are these neat ages where they are all still interested, but none are so young that I was constantly hovering.  It will be different again next year, as Johanna will be 2½ and we will include her in our merriment.  Hopefully the boys will still be interested.  She will certainly be! ♥

The overwhelming majority of my Christmas shopping has been done online this year.  We have the “package man,” [UPS] or the “package lady,” [USPS] at our house almost every day it seems.  Since the kids know where all the gifts come from [God via mom and dad] there is no need to hide them.  So – they are piling up in the corner of my bedroom.   I also have packages waiting to be picked up at Walmart via their site-to-store.  [I LOVE site-to-store!]  I hope to get there this weekend. 

I remember a friend of mine who had a daughter back when I had Marie.  She and her husband were in a small apartment when the daughter was about 3.  They hid all her Christmas gifts in a box right under the kitchen table.  In plain sight.  She never had  a clue. 

As these boxes started accumulating and we started to see the “package people” more regularly my kids realized what I was hoarding in my room.   I am so glad that my kids have never shown any signs of not being able to wait. I am a woman all about surprises! I have often said that you could put my birthday present on the floor in June and cover it with a towel and tell me not to peek and I would not. [My birthday is in December.] I love surprises and never want to ruin any of my own. [We don’t even find out the sex of the babies we are expecting.] I LOVE surprises!

This stuff is NOT all for our kids.  HA!  Don’t THEY wish!