The kids all agreed this was the best Christmas ever!!! Of course, that could have just been because (spoiler alert) there were some much-desired iPhones under the tree. But even without the technology, I have to agree it was a pretty great holiday. Lots of snuggles, laughs, and cookies (some of which were definitely not appropriate for Santa)...and a minimal amount of fighting and bickering (which was the only thing I wanted for Christmas).
Jill gets all the credit for decorating our tree this year. The boys agreed to smile for a picture, but then left her to do all the work while they played video games.
Still, we all started feeling the Christmas spirit once the house was decorated with lights, mistletoe, and (naturally) Clark's moose-mug. Even Pepper was feeling the love.
I managed to get our Christmas cards designed and sent out on time.
I also managed to get my teens and tweens to pose for a photo shoot in this year's Christmas jammies.
And the jammies don't lie -- they were definitely there for the cookies, of which there were many this year. It began with the annual neighborhood cookie exchange. Then, there were peanut butter blossoms and butterscotch no-bakes (made by Jill), gingerbread cut-outs (made by Chris), and sugar cookie cut-outs (made by Aaron and Nana). Danny and I contributed as professional taste-testers and clean-up crew.
Can you tell there were teenagers involved? Sorry Santa 😳
On Christmas Eve, after all the presents were wrapped and the stockings were stuffed, Chris and I collapsed into bed with the expectation that we would be shaken out of our slumber bright and early...
...but that's apparently not how things work anymore! Christmas morning is pretty different with teenagers. Instead of the kids waking us up before dawn, we were the ones who had to drag them out of bed.
Merry Christmas morning!
As usual, each of the kids had five presents under the tree from Chris and me: (1) something cool, (2) for sports or for school, (3) something to wear, (4) something to share...and (5) something from "Santa."
Not sure Danny will actually wear this in public, haha.
They each got tickets to "something cool." Aaron got tickets to Hadestown, Jill got tickets to Six (plus a spot in a dance class at DCPA to learn the show's choreography)...
...and Danny got tickets to see Alex Warren (his all-time favorite artist) at Red Rocks. He was so excited!
They exchanged presents with each other (because giving is receiving, har har).
Pepper got some good gifts too.
So far, so good!
Eventually, Chris and I upped the ante with a scavenger hunt that led to the shed...where we'd parked two new e-bikes for the family to share (the kids can't use Golden's steep hills as an excuse to stay on the couch anymore)!
Following the clues.
Something to share!
But the pièce de résistance was, of course, the iPhones. Aaron had been dropping hopeful hints about a phone for months, and since he was turning 14, we decided he was ready.
As for Jill, she (conveniently) lost her pinwheel phone (a crappy, glitchy, "dumb phone" we'd gotten her for 5th grade graduation) a few weeks before Christmas. So she started dropping her own hints -- even though she was a lot less hopeful. Chris and I had to decide whether to get her another crappy phone to use until she turned 14...or whether to take advantage of a 2-for-1 Christmas deal and get her an iPhone earlier-than-planned. Suffice it to say, Chris loves a good deal.
Jill knew it was a big deal to get an iPhone before 14, and she promised repeatedly to be responsible with it. (She didn't realize yet that we'd already installed all the parental controls so she couldn't have social media, games, or Youtube even if she wanted to 😂)
As for Danny, he's only 10, so he definitely did not get a phone (we're not that crazy). But we thought he might be happy with an upgrade on his glitchy Kindle instead.
He was!
...and also lots of friends, family, and cocktails.
By the end of the holiday season, we were rested, recharged, and ready to start the new year off right. So I guess it really was the best Christmas ever (so far)!
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