A review in photos: The tree post visit from Santa pre carnage of the children (lights out)
Remember, there are 5 different households represented in the gift giving below. 16 people in total. It looks like a lot. It is a lot but...it's Christmas....(if you turn on the lights, this is what you will see)
These are the 3 top-secret presents left for Cass, KK and Boy-O....what could they be?
Stockings. Lots and lots of stockings......
The happy faces of the little ones (see KK clinging to her cousin MO?) as they are allowed in to spy on the tree and bask in all the Christmas Morning splendor...Cass was permitted to peak in and see all of this FIRST by herself and because she is one of the older kids she waited patiently as the little ones shuffled in for their first look....
One of the gifts eagerly hoped for by each of the grandkids was the beloved PILLOW-PET...no sleep-over at Grandma's can be complete without one. And now, they ALL have one! Thank you Grandma! Cass got a panda...
Brogan received a frog (have we mentioned that green is the boy's FAVORITE color?)
And shoved in this tall thin box, cleverly disguised, is KK's Monkey....
The entire room fell silent when the girls opened THIS present and exclaimed quite joyously (and loudly), "TOTORO!!!!". What is Totoro, you might ask? A charming Japanese cartoon about a little girl who gets lost in the woods and meets 3 sweet "totoro's" which is an intentional mispronunciation of the japanese word for troll. Ask the girls about the cat bus. We dare you. Don't you tube it. It's a bit disturbing.
Brian scored this t-shirt from Glenn and Lori. I think it fits him perfectly. Wish I had thought to give it to him.
Remember those mysterious red Santa Boxes? Here is what was found inside:Brogan got Power Miner Lego's. Exactly what he asked for.....he must have been really good this year. Santa has told him there is more where that came from if he can manage to be potty trained. Thank you for being on our side, Santa.
KK (wearing her new snow hat...like Agnes' on "despicable me" which we highly recommend if you haven't seen it yet...) was thrilled to find the asked for Strawberry Shortcake Berry Cafe. She too enjoyed a year of good behavior.
Cassidy was all smiles and squeals of delight when she opened her very own bow and arrow set that came with a target (all plastic with suction cups..that Santa is a wise individual!). She had originally asked for a bow and arrow with a rope attached so she could shoot it high up in the trees or buildings and then climb up or down, as the case may be. We told her those types of things were for special op's and she would need to settle for one a little less special. Turns out she is a natural and quite a good shot. Perhaps she will graduate to the real thing sooner then planned....she and Daddy are making plans to go to a shooting range as soon as we can arrange it. Fun! Cassidy also had a wonderful year and Santa took care to give her what she asked for with some modifications for safety purposes.
Of course, all good boys deserve some love on Christmas and Brian was included in that. Brian got a brand NEW xbox 360. Making him the proud owner of....not one...not two...but THREE x-box 360's. Why so many? Well....can you really ever have too many? To be honest, one was slightly mangled when Brogan decided to use it as his very own DVD player and became frustrated when his disk wasn't loading fast enough...he pushed a little too hard and broke the disk tray rendering a perfectly good xbox in-operable. (gasp!) So we only had 1 functional system. It's a difficult thing to share something like this. The kids want to play games....Daddy wants to play only ONE game. So, in the name of family harmony, the purchase of the additional box was necessary. And it was a surprise. A secret kept since Thanksgiving night when it was purchased during a clandestine and insane special op's mission to Toys-R-Us where we fought crowds of holiday shoppers. Then reported that the mission had FAILED....when really, it had been a success. Sneaky. Very sneaky. But worth it to see this smile and the glazed look in his eye (maybe it was tears...we'll never know).
There were so many presents....wrapping paper pilled high....laughter echoing....a perfect and wonderful birthday celebration. Merry Christmas!
KK (wearing her new snow hat...like Agnes' on "despicable me" which we highly recommend if you haven't seen it yet...) was thrilled to find the asked for Strawberry Shortcake Berry Cafe. She too enjoyed a year of good behavior.
Cassidy was all smiles and squeals of delight when she opened her very own bow and arrow set that came with a target (all plastic with suction cups..that Santa is a wise individual!). She had originally asked for a bow and arrow with a rope attached so she could shoot it high up in the trees or buildings and then climb up or down, as the case may be. We told her those types of things were for special op's and she would need to settle for one a little less special. Turns out she is a natural and quite a good shot. Perhaps she will graduate to the real thing sooner then planned....she and Daddy are making plans to go to a shooting range as soon as we can arrange it. Fun! Cassidy also had a wonderful year and Santa took care to give her what she asked for with some modifications for safety purposes.
Of course, all good boys deserve some love on Christmas and Brian was included in that. Brian got a brand NEW xbox 360. Making him the proud owner of....not one...not two...but THREE x-box 360's. Why so many? Well....can you really ever have too many? To be honest, one was slightly mangled when Brogan decided to use it as his very own DVD player and became frustrated when his disk wasn't loading fast enough...he pushed a little too hard and broke the disk tray rendering a perfectly good xbox in-operable. (gasp!) So we only had 1 functional system. It's a difficult thing to share something like this. The kids want to play games....Daddy wants to play only ONE game. So, in the name of family harmony, the purchase of the additional box was necessary. And it was a surprise. A secret kept since Thanksgiving night when it was purchased during a clandestine and insane special op's mission to Toys-R-Us where we fought crowds of holiday shoppers. Then reported that the mission had FAILED....when really, it had been a success. Sneaky. Very sneaky. But worth it to see this smile and the glazed look in his eye (maybe it was tears...we'll never know).
There were so many presents....wrapping paper pilled high....laughter echoing....a perfect and wonderful birthday celebration. Merry Christmas!
3 comments:
Sounds like Christmas was a success for the Schroyers! I love seeing them all so happy! And GASP!!!! You even had me going with Thanksgiving's "failed mission." I guess that I had to be a part of the lie for full effect. It was a good story, though. I'd like to hear the real one eventually.
What an exciting Christmas. I was waiting to find out about your holidays....I have at least one more post to go.
Oh yes, the pillow pets. That was all Whitney and Estelle wanted this year!
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