DPP Days 22 and 23 - Nothing Says Christmas like a 5 Pound Gummy Bear

I am not sure I would have believed this existed if I hadn't seen it.  This kiddo has been asking for this monstrosity for the last several gift giving events.  It seemed only appropriate that his Grandma, who is often the one who sees the genius of the kid's ideas when we think they are crazy, would buy this for B.  This makes her extra popular with all four kids.  The 22nd was the day we celebrated Christmas with the Hoffman side of the family.  It has always been a great blessing that their tradition has been to celebrate outside the normal time of Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  But I find that we miss seeing them on Christmas.  We may need to add another low key tradition to the mix.  At any rate, those who split their time between families know how hard it can be to fit it all in.  This celebration is always relaxing and fun.  B is seen here ecstatic at his massive gift.  He was kind enough to share with everyone and it was tasty.  You could pull out your teeth trying to get a bite of it though!

E spent a lot of her Christmas like this (we later figured out that she must have some virus because by Christmas, she was running a fever).  Grandma appreciated this because someone gifted her this blanket and she could send a photo of it getting used to the gift giver.  E was happy to oblige.  She does look comfy, doesn't she?

Little b could hardly be bothered to do anything else after opening this gift.  He has spent the last year figuring out how to do things with Rubik cubes and this is one that connects to an app.  It is slowly teaching him the patterns and the ways to do different things with it.  He has expanded his knowledge to how to create a "daisy" on one side and well as a cross.  He has been able to get two sides solved and create a checker board for quite some time.   We think he may be on his way to being able to solve it.  The app will keep track of his time and how quickly he can solve it, once he can.   He is excited to learn all he can.   This kiddo has always done best with gifts that challenge his brain.  He has never been a kid to sit down and play toys much.   He prefers to be playing with friends or being active.  He is such a people person that asking him to play by himself seems like a punishment.  The fact his older brother likes nothing more than some alone time each day is a real inconvenience.  The only things that will keep him entertained on his own are things like this or other STEAM type activities.   Makes me wonder what will be that thing that captures his lifelong attention.

This is the final picture from the 22nd.  A few weeks ago, E played a prank on her Grandma.  This was one of those things that lets me know she has some of her Daddy's orneriness in her.  The short version of the story is that Grandma was asking Alexa to stop playing music.  E kept turning the music back on with the app on her phone.  Well, Grandma gave quite the reaction which erupted the kiddos into fits of giggles.  She caught on to the joke and promised to get even.  E went out on Black Friday for the first time and spent far too much of her own money.  Wise to this problem, she offered the two pairs of shoes she bought to Grandma to give to her for Christmas.  Grandma loves an easy shopping solution and gladly accepted the offer.  After E's prank, Grandma got the great idea of going to Goodwill and buying two of the wildest shoes she could find to replace the shoes E wanted.   This picture is of E opening the first of the shoes and trying to work out if this was a joke or if she was supposed to act like she liked it.   My favorite is the look on her cousin's face which just says to me that she was equally unimpressed.  The other pair was a bright yellow suede 6 inch platform heel with big bows on the straps.   How I didn't get a photo of those, I may never know.  We all tried them on and attempted to walk in them.  Most liked that the shoes nearly made them taller than E.  It turned out to be one fun Christmas memory.   Maybe E learned not to mess with Grandma or maybe she learned that it was a lot of fun......time will tell. 

Day 23 was a wrapping extravaganza for me.  I think I wrapped for the better part of 9 hours.   There were pie crust promises from Rich and the kids that they would come help me but somehow I managed to be the only one wrapping for the majority of the day.  While I wrapped, the kids spent some time enjoying the gifts they were given by Billie and Rob, Barb and Syd, and Grandma.

K picked out this little ice cream serving station.  I was skeptical but it has been a huge hit.  Melissa and Doug really make great stuff and this will definitely be one of those toys we keep around for long after she is done playing with it.   She has been dutifully making ice cream for anyone who sits still long enough to enjoy it.  Here she is making it for her Daddy and this picture was taken by him.

I love this picture so much because they are all three playing with different things, yet they chose to huddle together in this weird space between the kitchen table and the back of the family room couch.  B is eating some "Billie Bread" for his breakfast and if you look carefully, you can see Lil b's piece too.  That was one of our best presents we brought home is a freezer full of Billie Bread.   For those of you out of the know, Billie, Rich's sister, makes some yummy coffee cake like bread.  It is amazing.  We plowed through one whole loaf on day one.

The Christmas prep has come to a near close.  It is always my goal to finish most of the work, other than what has to be done on the day of, prior to Christmas eve and Christmas day.  This way I can better take in the moments that are what make Christmas so special to our family and remember the greatest Gift we all received on that first Christmas night.