As a young mother, many years ago, I prided myself for accomplishing a feat in order to help my children's sleep habits. I have always been cursed with being a very light sleeper; waking at the slightest out of sequence sound. My children do not follow in my footsteps on this matter. I took great pains to run vacuums, and keep things from being perfectly quiet during their sleep time, unless I was trying to sneak in a few winks also. The children have, for the most part, been able to wake when their body says they have been rested and not from other interruptions. Thus, to many parents disbelief, we did not get up for Christmas Morning festivities until 6:30. Karl and I had been awakened by our four legged friends' needs and the coffee started just as the children were on their way down.
While the puppies were being attended to, coffee and cranberry bread placed in the living room, the children were discovering the gifts left by Santa. Anton is beginning to doubt by the questions he has been asking over the past few years, accusations of me running out in the middle of the night to retrieve gifts while they are sleeping, but when the moment comes just before going up to bed, he is all giddy with cookies and milk to be placed in the proper spot. Isabella has begun the logical reasoning of timing, but then uses time zones and time delays as excuses. One of the pictures from the NATO Santa watch site uses real reindeer and a sled in their satellite proof of Santa's journey. This was the one to get them off Karl's lap and racing off to bed with frantic shouts of, "He's almost here!" "Santa does n0t want to find us awake!" "Those were real reindeer!"
Anton, unlike many of his peers, did not ask for gaming systems or expensive I-Pods. He asked for "a good telescope to see space", and other items for his "secret lab". Santa brought the first big item with eyes full of curiosity and wonder as to what he will see. Currently, the scope sits in the master bedroom as it has the best window, out of puppy exposure, and can also view the nature preserve beyond the crop land.
Yes, that is a real bow set! Isabella asked for a bow set and wishes to go hunting. Whether this is due to our exaggerated discussions of living the land, or because the young boy up the road regularly goes hunting we can not figure out but she wanted one. I have to admit, I did enjoy archery when exposed to the sport many years ago. This interest has Karl thinking of getting sets for the whole family and plans of family practice times. Later in the day, Karl took Isabella outside to shoot. She needs to develop her upper body strength to pull the bow strings all the way back, but she does have good aim. They were shooting into the straw bales that contain my working compost. Once, when Karl slipped, he shot into the pile skewering the remains of an orange peel. He was not too happy and the request for new bales to create a proper target have been proposed.
The children, hardly able to contain their secret, wanted me to open their gift. I had requested a nice stainless stock pot. I had a large aluminum one I would use for cooking down large batches of tomatoes or apples when canning, but the sugars were burning on the bottom. This new pot with it's thicker heavier bottom will make this less likely. It is also huge!
My sister, Lori, asked what she should give the children. After I thought about all the other gifts I knew of, more in later posts, I sent her a list of books. Anton really had been wanting a copy of
Treasure Island, after seeing the Disney remake into Treasure Planet. I searched for just the right copy, one that would keep his interest but not too easy either. Anton has been devouring the children's scaled down classics in about 2 days, I wanted this to last longer. After reading many reviews and taking peeks at the pages, I sent her the link for this one. It has many pictures in a soft water color to keep the interest, but it is the story as Stevenson wrote it. Anton says it might take him a week. When I asked Isabella if there were any books she might want, and reminding her books we buy are ones we would read many times, she excitedly requested, "Anything Judy Moody!" She had just completed a book report on a Judy Moody book from the library. She would be laughing in stitches over the predicaments Judy got herself into. The books are laying in the basket waiting for the newness of the other gifts to wear off, I give them a week.
