A White CHRISTmas!

Delaney whispered in my ear a few minutes before 7, is it time, mom? It looks light outside! She was patient while I managed to complete a few last minute tasks. We then woke the boys; Jax was moving before his eyes were even open. As you can see, he was extremely excited to see that Santa had left him the crayola maker. Unfortunately, Santa didn't realize that it needs a special light bulb so we haven't exactly tried it out.The kids were totally surprised and just amazed at their big gift from us and their Papa. They almost couldn't believe their eyes. Jax said, "Is this an iPhone?" We then explained that it was an iTouch and that it was a music, game player, and video in one. We followed this closely with a responsibility speech and that we would be guarding them closely. For a bit, they seemed to just look at it as if they couldn't believe it. However, numerous times through the day they mentioned how their gift was so awesome.

Months ago, I knew that I wanted to get each of them a portable DVD player. The car one had been broken for over a year and since the boys and Delaney are beginning to have their own interest , I figured they were old enough for their own. And since we spend our fair share of time in the car, it seemed like a good idea. Then, in recent months the boys really began to love music and requested iPods; this was at the top of their list. The more we thought about it, the more we decided instead of having multiple devices for music and video (not to mention also the need to cart around the DVD's), the smarter device for just a little more cost would be an iTouch. But, should we really get 6 years olds an iTouch? It seemed a bit excessive but in the end, they didn't need any more toys and we decided that it would be something that they would grow with rather than out grow in a year.

Making this purchase is a story of it's own. Toys R' Us ran a great Black Friday midnight special. With each iTouch, you received a $50 gift card. This would be a savings of $150. So, I decided to join the masses of crazy bargain hunting shoppers, hoping that most would hit the wee hour of the morning sales. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. I arrived a little after 11:00 and the line was already wrapped completely around the building. I met a friend so our hour wait wasn't bad and the temperature that evening was chilly but bearable. After I finally made my way into the store, I headed straight to electronics where I found a very long crazy, chaotic line. They were only allowing a limited number of shoppers at a time into the electronics area. We were packed very tight into an isle and I know for at least 20 minutes the line did not move. On several occasions, I almost bailed. Finally, the line moved a bit and one extremely obnoxious woman ahead of me gave up which made my wait more tolerable. Still it was beyond chaotic with more lines forming and trying to merge into the line I was in. Let's just say there were some very cranky people and I knew with each passing moment, the odds of them still being in stock were slim. But, close to an hour later, I finally gained my turn in electronics and was able to make my purchase. This was certainly a true test of patience (I don't do waiting well) and maybe even God's reminder that sometimes good things come to those who wait.

It was a full day of fun. We didn't have as many toys to assemble this year, but we had lots of games and new things to keep us entertained. I still felt like I was moving from one thing to the next all day. And, of course we had to take a few minutes out to play in the snow.