More Christmas!

We spent the first few days of Christmas with Mumpy and Pa!

What a great time! One of the best things about blogs is that they are good for recording all the little lovely bits that otherwise evaporate with the onward sweep of life.

Things I want to remember: Oob getting tickly kissed by Mumpy and then running over to me saying, "She kissed me!" before running back for more kisses. Over and over!

Pa and Mumpy gave Klenda some face paint. She promptly put this to good use by painting anybody and everybody with progressively more extravagant designs.

I begged to try, but when she saw what I did to Oob, she just shook her head and sighed.

Oh, well. Oob loved it!

Choclo was quite pleased with his armor.

Naturally, a large box was the best present possible, especially when Mumpy started giving rides.

Mumpy and Pa live on a lake which had obligingly frozen. We had a fantastic time sledding around and running on the ice. I ended up a bit sore for a few days, but that was quite worth dragging four kids on sleds at the same time and then letting them go sliding off!

We're back home now, and still celebrating. We only open a present or two a day so that we really enjoy and play with everything.

One of the best things about Christmas now is that the older kids save up their allowance to buy stuff for their brothers and sisters. They come up with some of the biggest hits! A bonus effect is that the thing they are most excited about (besides Jesus' birthday) for Christmas is giving their presents.

Zorg bought Choclo this set of kitchen equipment: a "working" mixer, blender, and coffee machine. Choclo and Oob have been happily playing with them for more than an hour now...