My Mom Sent a Package (My Dad, Too) (Sent a Package, I Mean)

The other day my mom told us that she was going to send a package of some things that she wanted us to have before Christmas...how fun is that?!  It arrived yesterday, late in the afternoon, and the house was full of screaming and running around, and that was before we even opened anything up. 

There was one condition for opening up the box.  We had to get on Skype so that she could see us get into our stuff.  The kids love to do this, so we all fought for a seat in front of the computer and got her online (onscreen?) and then the ripping open frantically of all things sealed began. 

There were new Christmas ornaments for our tree, one for each of us and then one for our family.  I love getting new ornaments!  It's useful, and pretty or fun, and so meaningful.  They can be passed on in the family.  I think they are a great gift.  I have to be careful and not give them away as presents to other families too many times (not my new ones, but ones that I buy for gift exchanges).  It's not because I'm a doof (although I am), it's because I would like to receive them myself and so I do for others what I would like to have done unto me.   Or something like that.

I'm babbling.  Amidst the tissue paper and the bags the kids discovered that Grandma and Grandpa had also sent little foam sticker tablets.  They were immediately sucked in to the world of foam stickiness...what is it about these sticky little foamies that is so completely engaging?! 

You'd think they had never seen a sticker before, they were so excited.  I love it that such simple things are so entertaining for them.

They made little scenes and were able to show my mom their handiwork right away!  Technology is your friend when you are thousands of miles from your family.

Back to the ornaments...

(I know this is all mixed up, like the files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler...sorry.  My brains feel like scrambled eggs, so that's what you get.  Read on, if you like chaos!)

Eliana grabbed this up and hugged it to her chest...

She said,"This mine!"  She is skilled in the art of the two-year-old.  What is funny is that it actually is hers.  And just the other day she told me,"I love snowman!" exhuberantly.  How does my mom know these things?

Wait.  It gets stranger.  She really does have this uncanny sense of knowing (like that time when I took a road trip my freshman year of college with two girlfriends and we didn't tell anybody and then when we got back I told my mom that we had done it and she said,"I just had a feeling you did that!").  When we (the five of us, at Thanksgiving) were in Florida with Mike's family Michaela mentioned wanting ice skates for Christmas.  She was telling Mike's mom, Grandma Diana, about it, and we were discussing whether or not it would be the best idea for a gift this year. (We wanted to make a good decision, given how often we make it to an ice skating rink...like, oh, never.  Except when we're in Florida, of course.  I know, we make no sense.)  Anyway, we decided to hold off on the ice skates for a while, maybe until her feet stop growing.  So...now we're back here and opening this box from my mom.  And Michaela unwraps her ornament...

And there are Michaela's new skates!  This may have been inspired by the ice skating post from the other day, but I still thought it was funny that Michaela had really asked for skates as a gift. 

And then there was Christian.  My hilarious little guy.  He opened his ornament and started reading,"St. Nicholas Square...frame ornament!" and by the time he got to the last word he sounded so excited.  I got tickled because he was having a hard time seeing the forest for the trees. 

He had a soccer ball picture frame, and was reading the slip of paper that comes on the inside.  And he sounded just as thrilled as he could be as he said all that, although I'm pretty sure he didn't understand what he was saying.  I pointed out to him that the whole thing was a ball and that you put a picture inside, and he said,"Ohhh!" and nodded his head happily. 

Ne-e-e-xt!  Mike and I got matching ones!  Aren't we cute?!  Actually, aren't they cute?

And then...this made me squeal.  Here's the background...many years ago, my mom and I made a joint purchase.  We bought a wooden rack that looks sort of like a ladder, but it's wider, and it's for hanging cute little whatevers on it.  I'm sure you can't imagine it at all based on that description, and I'm too lazy to go take one more picture tonight, load it, and then upload it.  At any rate, neither one of us has ever hung it up anywhere, but she did send it here so that I could use it (I suppose we'll have to take turns somehow) but it has yet to make it up on the wall.  It's leaning right now.  Wait!  I think I have a photo...

Goodness, that took forever.  And then I wrote a bunch of stuff and put some other pictures up, and the power went out.  Again.  Of course, I hadn't saved what I had written after the last paragraph, so now I am trying to remember what witty and clever things I said an hour ago, and will they be as good now, or just a copy of some former fabulous post that never was?

Oh, and the picture that I went looking for did not have the rack in it.  I think it must have been taken just before she sent it.  But, here are the things that arrived, both for Christmas-time, and the ones for any time...

(Did I just say that technology was my friend?  Because I'm about to change my mind.)

I really love these; I love that they are a bit older.  I also have my grandma's old hand-cranked egg beater.  I can't wait to get all of them hung up.

Of course, I will have to get the rack hung up first.  There is a proper order to these kinds of things.  And we all know what an expert I am on "order".  Hmmm?

We had so much fun opening the box, Mom, and we are even more excited that we will get to have a Christmas morning with you guys when you come, even if it will be a little after Christmas Day.  I say, spread out the joy!

Speaking of joy...I got Eliana to eat bananas!

There are bananas in there!  I promise. 

No, that doesn't have anything to do with anything.  Scrambled eggs...remember?

Comments

[Mindee@ourfrontdoor]

Again - your mom rocks. Although, you're the kind of person that people love to give gifts too because you're so appreciative that it's fun. I just realized that there were people like that a couple of years ago. At my house, people demurely open gifts, smile, and murmur thank you.

Boring.

People like you rip and squeal and hug which makes the giver feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I'm coaching my kids to open gifts like you do. It's more fun - and you get more stuff. ;)

[Elle Bee]

It's so fun to get packages in the mail. I too love it when Bug gets excited about the simple things. It's so sweet and innocent. I LOVE the stuff to put on the rack.