Pre-Christmas anticipation frenzy
We are approaching high pitched Christmas anticipation frenzy as we turn the corner into less-than-one-week-until-Christmas. The kids have been counting and recounting to make sure that they counted correctly. They’ve been counting until our California trip departure. They’ve been counting to Christmas eve. They’ve been counting until Christmas day. They’ve been counting days. They’ve been counting nights. I’ve been trying to tone down the excitement levels. Unfortunately I have not been assisted by the people who left a gingerbread house kit on our doorstep this evening. Now I have Christmas anticipation frenzy with candy and frosting. (Incidentally, if the people leaving 12 days of Christmas on our doorstep happen to read this blog, I’m not really complaining. We’ve received four wonderful gifts now which we have all enjoyed greatly. Thank you very much!)
Speaking of gifts, my kids have all finished their Christmas shopping and wrapped it all. I had to make sure it all got done in plenty of time for me to assess how much stuff needs to be packed into our van for this trip. We all tried to shop for small gifts because we knew we would be traveling. This seems to have worked because I think I can fit it all in. Yesterday I pulled all the gifts out from under the tree and packed them into boxes for transportation. This process was fascinating to the kids. Gleek and Patches in particular watched each package to into the box.
Gleek spent a lot of time poking her packages and speculating about contents. When she was speculating about the package from Patches he thoughtfully announced exactly what was in it. Patches is so excited about giving gifts. He loved wrapping them. He knows that they’re supposed to be a surprise, but he’s so excited about what he is giving that the secrets just kind of slip out. The first time this happened he immediately collapsed into tears because he realized that he’d ruined the surprise. Wonderful Link just looked at tearful Patches and announced that he hadn’t quite heard what Patches said. He then talked out loud pretending to try to figure out what was in the box that Patches had just revealed the contents of. Gleek followed that example when Patches announced her present. Now we just try not to talk about presents in front of Patches. A week is a very long time for a small child to keep an exciting secret.
I have to confess that I’m counting too. 2 more days until we depart. But those two days are going to fly because I have so many things to get done. I am a little stressed about it all. But I’m happy stressed because I’m really looking forward to having an out-of-my house vacation.