The first change we are making is: No more ridiculously long Christmas wish lists from the kids. I realized last year how greedy that was. They each get to make a list to Santa of 4 things they want. That's all. Just 4.
Also, and this one is super easy to do because we are still "new" here: No more elaborate neighbor gifts or huge plates of cookies or crafts for every person on our street. I no longer feel the need to keep up with the Jones' so I am not putting any pressure on myself this Christmas to make my neighbors a Christmas treat or craft.
And lastly: No more Christmas cards to people I haven't talked to in more than 2 years and have no intention of at least trying to see in the near future. That means that the people who were in our ward in CT who we no longer talk too, will not be getting a Christmas card, neither will every office Kendrick has ever worked in, or our dentist or my OBGYN (although I should clarify that I do have plans to see them in the near future and we have seen them in the last year...)
I think I will enjoy Christmas more when I try to keep it simple and keep it about the ones I love.
So moving on, here are the kids' Christmas lists. We are doing them the old fashioned way from here on out by *gasp* actually writing them down and mailing them to Santa! I love that the twins are old enough to write words now and that Easton draws such...thought provoking pictures. His original picture was a picture of his sad face because I "was yewwing at him". When I told him that that picture made me sad and that he should make a happy one for Santa, he then changed it to a picture of himself with a bloody nose "like Gacks" (Jack). Needless to say, it took a couple of tries to get an actual picture of something he wants for Christmas, but I think we finally did!
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| Taylor's |
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| Jack's |
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| Myles' with a picture of Santa and Grizzle (our Elf on a Shelf) on the back |
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| Easton's (it's a blue Power Ranger on fire) |
