Christmas

The Jul Tompte (Swedish Christmas Elf) came to our house tonight with tons of great stuff for good boys and girls. Andy made out (no surprise) with some new pajamas, a stuffed reindeer, a Little People alphabet thing, a new John Deere truck, a couple of books in English and Swedish, and a grocery cart. Unfortunately had to be put together so he could only play with pieces of it. It's going under the tree tonight so when he comes down tomorrow, he'll be thrilled. The whole day was so exciting that by the time we got to open presents, Andy was already pretty worn down and not as gracious as he could have been. We'll need to work on that for next year. The rest of the gang went on to another party, but Andy was so exhausted I stayed home and put him to bed. It was only 8:30, but I think he was asleep before I actually closed the door to his room to leave.

Tonight, fingers crossed, Santa will come so I'm trying to clean everything up in preparation. What I'm realizing though is that I'm now entering the phase of parenting where I have to stay up late putting toys together in anticipation. With the older kids, they're fine getting something in a box and putting it together, but these Little Tykes things are so complicated, they usually require the electric drill and a hammer. And often a glass of egg nog for me to calm my nerves while I try to figure out the instructions.