Christmas morning came very early! Liza and Buddy didn't arrive on Christmas Eve until almost 1AM and stayed up wrapping a few last gifts, so when Quayd broke the "stand at the bottom of the stairs and call up "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" with "WAKE UP!!!!, IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!", my sleeping heart had to be peeled off the ceiling before I climbed out of bed! Talk about a jump start! 6AM was what ZJ had set her alarm for. Buddy said he was grateful that he'd heard them stirring for a few minutes before the "SHOUTout" because he was prepared.
Opening stockings is done all at the same time. The girls were excited to have lots of girlie things in theirs this year! Quayd got some AAA batteries, among other things, and he had no clue why yet!
Quayd thought that he should wear his new gloves when we play the giftwrap game next time. The game has become a huge hit for our family. More on that later!
Buddy scored bigtime by giving Liza a new Eddie Vedder CD. She hearts Eddie Vedder almost as much as she loves Buddy.
ZJ loves her new coat. She must have told me twenty times throughout the day!
Probably the biggest laugh of the day...oh my heck...I'm sure the neighbors heard us laughing! For the past two months, Doug and Quayd have been through the entire garage several times in search of this old real sword we had acquired somehow. It's even resulted in Doug buying and hanging new hinged doors in our garage and doing quite a bit of dejunking (not his forte). However. No sword has been found anywhere. So, when making the list of needs and wants and talents, the sword was an obvious for Quayd, although he never once asked for one. As we were opening gifts, I whispered to Doug and made a sneaky plan that Buddy would open the sword to see if Quayd would realize it was his. Buddy opened it slowly, standing next to Quayd. We all watched with anticipation. Buddy teased that he'd share the string around this package with Quayd but nothing more. When Quayd saw this sword, (and dangit, I snapped the picture a second too fast), Quayd took THE deepest, biggest GASP, we'd ever heard. He was SHOCKED!!!! We laughed soooooo hard. Quayd was thrilled and needed no more gifts after this, but he still had a bigger surprise coming! SCORE!
Buddy is very hard to buy for and he's very hard to surprise. He noticed every detail. So, last summer, when Liza told me that Buddy really wanted a Ninja Blender, I wrote it down on my holiday shopping list. He was very surprised when he opened it and claimed it to be his blender immediately. Good thing I'd bought Liza lots of other little things! Liza said her best gift from us was seeing Buddy so surprised and excited about his gift.
Quayd had asked for one thing and one thing only this holiday... a camcorder. He got it and even though he was 99.9% sure that he would be getting one, he was surprised and thrilled with it!
Doug managed to pull off a surprise too by getting me a new purse! And I loved it! But, I still loved his wrapping the best!
But, the biggest surprise of all was for the girls. For months, Grace has asked for a Kindle Fire and for months, we've said, "no way". ZJ has been saving her money forever and working hard to earn enough money to buy herself and iPad. She's well on her way! So, neither of them expected to open their presents, at the same time, and find that they each had Kindle Fires. Obliously, Grace figured it out first!
She could NOT believe it!
Then, it hit ZJ!
She kept asking, "SERIOUSLY!?"
Grace said, "I'm feeling faintish!" And ZJ asked, "Is this a dream!?" Suffice it to say, the girls were thrilled!
Buddy and Liza brought their gifts from Arizona. He's always thoughtful and generous with his Christmas gifts! She gets a new diamond each year.
A new planner for me, in my favorite color. This picture shows my bad hair, no make-up, a silly face, but I love this man next to me. It shows his gentleness. He's my favorite present of all!
We are proud to announce that Doug will now be retiring his old Nokia prototype flip-phone and getting "Smart" with his iPhone! He couldn't have been more surprised!
Quayd wasn't sure about this sword at first. It doesn't have a steel blade. BUT, Buddy sold him completely on the idea when...A. We realized that the REAL sword is in Arizona at their home. (Do you know how much time was spent looking for that!?) and B. Buddy pointed out that the REAL bladed sword would be hung on a wall and never used for anything but show and this sword could actually be sparred with. Quayd spent the rest of the afternoon either on his camcorder or stabbing boxes. This sword, made out of some something-something, a prop for midevil productions (which is why he wanted one in the first place), is every bit as heavy as the real one. He's a happy camper and will be painting it as soon as possible.
Liza and Buddy
Quayd
Grace
ZJ
Zaylee and Kelly came and spent the afternoon and evening with us. She was on one!
Kelly was a delight! She said she came for the Pretzel Salad, not gifts. She got both.
Liza and Buddy were so excited to have time with Zaylee.
We played games galore. The favorite of the night was CLR... We made it "Christmas CLR" by using Jingle Bells instead of chips. Even Zaylee won a round! But, she was more content to draw and color with Zeej.
Zaylee did not want to wear her cute little wrap that I'd bought her because "Gwammy! It doesn't have arm holes!" When Buddy tried it on to show her how it was supposed to be worn, she decided she wanted it after all. However, once she tried it on, and couldn't get her arms through the neck, she wasn't so sure again. By then, she was tired. Maybe she'll give it another chance when she's had a nap!
Liza and Buddy were amazing us with their talent, learned on Minute to Win It!
After Kelly left, we played the giftwrap game. This is the game that we began last year as a new tradition. It's too much fun and a great way to end the Christmas night!
Grace and Buddy's competiteness came out every round! The gift had 12 layers, each wrapped in something different and each "complicated" with duct tape, rubber bands, shipping tape, electrical tape, string, you name it. At one point, the rubber bands slipped off the package and onto Grace's snowmobile mitten. She couldn't do a thing! Good thing Buddy rolled doubles and it was his turn to unwrap!
Liza was the winner! She opened the tin!
One last gift...a Kohl's gift card. Bonus!
This pretty much sums up the events of the day! Doug, Liza, Buddy and I sat up visiting until 1AM when we forced ourselves to get to bed. Today will be a big day in SLC and getting them to the airport tonight.
And one last photo of one of my favorite things about this absolutely perfect Christmas Day!!!
Merry! Merry!
It looked like a fabulous Christmas at your home!!!!
Posted by: kip | Thursday, December 27, 2012 at 10:28 AM
I love the sword. I have 15 of them from when I did "The Scottish Play" ( can't say it, it's cursed). I used hammered finish silver spray paint on the blade, makes it look more real. I'm sure he'll have a blast staging battles for filming.
Posted by: Rachael | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 08:34 PM
Back to reading your blog Sophia! I was away in Florida, then a cruise, then back a week before Christmas, then sick with bronchitis, then away to visit family for Christmas, so busy, busy and today enjoying reading your blog while waiting for the snow storm. It looks like you all had a wonderful Christmas. Looking forward to see your pictures of the Christmas decorations at Temple Square. I have to visit Salt Lake one of these days...
Posted by: Nicole | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:54 PM