Blanchard's Blog

It is the strangest thing having to go to church today but at least we don’t have church until 1pm-yeah!

We played one last game for their first gift. My love read a left and right story. Every time he said left they had to pass the gift to the left and do the same for the right . They were so funny during the whole thing and grandma and grandpa were here to see it.

This year when we went to do our tithing settlement the bishop told us a story about his kids when they were small. When their kids were growing up they had a tithing, missionary, and a savings jar. The more I thought of this the more I loved the idea of it so we bought our kids 2 jars and a piggy bank. We didn’t put names on the boxes so they could play the left/right game but somehow they all ended up with the box that belonged to them.

To start them off we gave them each a roll of quarters, dimes and nickels. From this they separated 10% for tithing & mission fund and put the rest in savings but in the future that will be 10% as well. We just wanted to give them a head start in their piggy banks, and next year they can count how much they have saved in one year.

Esher’s only complaint was that his baseball pig didn’t have Rockies colors, so we have to fix that. It was so cute because he said to my love “Dad why is it a Red Sox pig and not a Rockies pig?” I love that he knows his own colors and other team colors too. He just loves baseball!

We had absolutely no money for Christmas this year. My sweet love worked some side jobs so we could have about $125 to spend on each of our cute monkeys. I love that they haven’t been overly spoiled in past years so when things are hard, like this year, they are grateful and enthusiastic for anything they get.

Tristan got clothes, boots, pastel pencils, a book from Isabel and head phones from Zoe

She and Esher opened their gifts from Zoe and TJ yesterday.

Esher got some clothes, 2 Wii games, baseball pitching machine and some baseballs.

Paris got clothes and a Kindle.

She has been using her daddy’s Kindle and loves it so we decided to just get her that for Christmas. My love had a $20 Amazon coupon so it only cost us $79. She was so good about having less presents than Esher and Tristan. SHE WAS SO EXCITED FOR HER KINDLE!!!!!

Sebastian got some gifts too. Somehow he knows these are his and he runs out to play with them for a little while before he comes back to get the next one. It is so funny! Each of the kids took turns opening a gift for him. Sebastian also got a bone from his girlfriend Lucy. It was so hard this year not to think of friend gifts, but there was no way we could! I knew that if I did one I wouldn’t be able to stop or choose just one. So, Lucy didn't get a gift from Sebastian but we are hoping 2012 is different.

Now this is the first year we are starting something new. My friend Susan mentioned many years ago that her children make gifts for one another for Christmas instead of buying each other gifts. Daphne adopted this idea right away, but I was much slower in implementing it. So, this year I gave them a budget of $15 to buy the materials they needed to make a gift for one of their siblings. We had a drawing and Paris had Esher, Esher had Tristan and Tristan got Paris. They were so so cute trying to figure out what they were going to make for the person they picked. All of them were extremely thoughtful and every gift turned out so so cute!!!

Paris made Esher a snow jar with all of his favorite sport balls in it and a giant green “E” on the top.

Esher made Tristan a Charm Bracelet with 7 charms he thought she would love-all of them were of animals.

Tristan made Paris 5 pairs of earrings. All of them were so adorable!

They were all so excited to give-love it! I wish we had started it 3 years ago when Susan first mentioned it. I’m excited to see what they make next year!

Finally it was time for grandpa's surprise. My love has been working on Grandpa’s new Kindle Fire for about a week. Grandma noticed that he was always reading her Kindle that he bought her last year so she decided to buy him one this year. He had no idea. Grandpa has ALWAYS been able to guess what his gifts are before he even opens the box, but this time she got him. It was so cute!

We didn’t see grandpa again until it was time to eat breakfast. He played on it for most of the rest of the day-HE LOVED IT!!

Then it was time for an even bigger surprise. My Love and I had no money to give each other gifts so Gary and Jo Ann decided to give us a family gift.

IT WAS AN ELECTRIC MIXER!

I have always wanted one but they are just too expensive. We were all excited! Yes, even my love since he will be eating all the yummy things that come out of it. Paris was the inspiration to the gift since she is so into baking cakes, but all of us will benefit for sure!