Christmas

 This year we had someone doing "Secret Santa" for us. It was something the kids looked forward to each morning as Evelyn would jump out of bed first to see what had been left downstairs. They left candied popcorn, Christmas decorations, cool toys, and more. Evelyn and Jilly wrote thank you notes to them a few times. On Christmas Eve, our friends the Bramwells stopped by and brought out the thank you notes the girls had written. The look on the girls' faces was kind of hilarious as they wondered how in the world the Bramwells had gotten a hold of their notes for Santa. I don't know if Jilly ever figured it out, and it took Evelyn quite a while to, but those 12 days made our Christmas a bit more special this year. 

 On the 23rd, we drove up to Ben's old stomping grounds to eat dinner with his high school band teacher. He's retired now, and enjoyed the company and seeing the kids. He even gifted them a few movies, "Enchanted" and "Finding Nemo," which Gordon is scared of we found out. Then we went to see "Christmas Tree Lane." My favorite part is driving down the gently sloping hill and seeing all the trees on either side of the street decorated with sweeping lines of white lights. This house we took a picture of was outside the neighborhood, but had the light display coordinated with some "Manheim Steamroller" music. The kids thought that was pretty cool.  

Uncle Dan came to visit and stay on Christmas Eve. We had tri-tip steak, potatoes, etc. It was all yummy, followed by the traditional opening of pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Cows. I got a half-snuggie as a joke from Dan. It's an L.A. Dodgers blanket with attached sleeves. It is nice for watching movies with though. Ben got a set of Lord of the Rings Pez dispensers. (He used to collect Pez dispensers in high school.)

I think the present pile gets bigger each year and we feel more than spoiled rotten just looking at all of it. People do love us I guess. :) We found a recording of a hearth with a fire in it and played that during dinner. Santa left a big bag of Marshmallow Mateys for breakfast, which I loved because I didn't have to make a fancy breakfast. I'm asking Santa for another bag of that next year. (Our kids don't get cereal like that usually, only at Grandma and Grandpa's house).

Flashlights for reading at night. 

Gordon having a light saber fight with Uncle Dan. Gordon got a lot of superhero dress-up stuff, Evelyn got books to read and a few bead kits, and Jilly got lots of Littlest Pet Shop toys and beads as well. And plenty of other gifts. I had all the kids write thank you notes this year for the first time. It's something I've been wanting to do for a few years now. It was a good Christmas. 

minor frustrations

I love my children. I really do. I love the way they fill my life, teach me, remind me, and make me a better person. Each of them is different, and I still feel I am on the road to discovering their differences and unique personalities. Every day is different and interesting in some way.

But.

One of the few personality traits they all share makes me crazy. It seems to provide no end of frustration for them or myself, and that's pickiness. They are all very picky about what they eat, what they wear, what they do with their time, where they're sitting in the car, how they're playing a game, how close, or not close they are sitting with each other. It's just crazy. I don't know if my kids are closer to the extreme end of things, or if they're just normal kids and I need to take a chill pill. Probably the latter. I read a book recently where the author encouraged trying to relabel a negative trait like this into a positive trait. Being very discerning, discriminating, having an eye for detail, knowing exactly what you want, etc. This still is not helping me when Gordon screams that the socks he's wearing don't go as high up his leg as he wants, or the hair clip Jilly's wearing isn't one centimeter higher diagonally on the side of her head as she'd like.

Clothes are one of the biggest battles we fight. I have learned to not care if they match at all, how many layers are worn or not worn, or how they wear their hair. The only rules we have are it has to be clean, modest, appropriate for the event, and on family picture day or weddings, I get full, total, and complete reign over clothes and hair. The girls understand this and were surprisingly cooperative on our family photo shoot this summer. Gordon didn't care yet. Now he does.

Evelyn's favorite clothes are t-shirts, leggings, and a skirt. She'll wear blue jeans when the leggings are dirty, which wouldn't have happened last year in Kindergarten. So it seems she's relaxing her expectations a little (for which I am very thankful).

Jilly has about 6 pieces of clothing she loves to wear, and if I suggest she has to wear anything else, we can be in full nuclear meltdown in 30 seconds or less. She'll wear these favorite things until they are filthy dirty, only then are they allowed to be washed. She'll keep digging them out of the laundry. Don't get me started on fixing her hair.

Gordon only wants to wear blue jeans, even when it's 85 degrees outside. He's not so picky about his shirts (yet), and of all the socks he owns, he only wants to wear 2 pairs of them, and one favorite pair of shoes anywhere. He's my only child that matches most of the time.

This pickiness came raining down on me yesterday when I was getting dressed for church. Evelyn wanted to help me pick something to wear. She would pull something out, and I had an excuse for not wearing nearly everything she pulled out of the closet. That's when I told her, "you know where you guys got your finickiness about clothes from - me."

Ben isn't exactly easy-going about what he wears either. Yay for genetic inheritance!

So beloved children, someday when you have your own kids, and you call me in complete frustration about your crazy children who want to wear the same shirt for a 72 hour stretch (as I have done with both sets of parents), I will listen sympathetically, and wish you loads of patience. When I hang up the phone, I will smile wistfully, thinking on these fun/frustrating days. And be a little bit glad I don't have to deal with pre-school pickiness anymore!