Phoebe succeeded on sleeping in the basement on Christmas Eve...but only because Andrew went downstairs to sleep with her. She woke up at 2:00 am buzzing with anticipation and didn't fall back asleep until around 5:00 or so. So we didn't get up particularly early.
Here she is ready to assemble the kids at around 9:20 am:
And here she is with Daddy at the top of the basement stairs, ready to start the Christmas Train:
This year Daddy took them marching out onto the deck.
Here they all are bustling back indoors:
Phoebe was the first through the curtain and she really wasn't sure which things were hers. She was immediately drawn to this little Harry Potter play set (and remains drawn to it, continually sneaking off to play with it), although that was intended for Zoë.
Phoebe got this Bluey themed shopping set that comes with a cash register (Ireland got one, too!). She was very intrigued by this Grogu nightlight as well (a last-minute find on the Buy Nothing Group).
Here's a little picture of everyone (except Rachel—because we already covered her) getting into their stockings:
Alexander and Benjamin were rather excited about their bow and arrow set!
Daddy wasn't unexcited about it, either:
Phoebe was also very interested in these candies that found their way into our stockings all the way from the North Pole (via Andrew's suitcase after a trip to Quebec earlier this semester):
Zoë thought they were interesting because they weren't Smarties (as known in the United States—we call those Rockets in Canada). They were more like M&Ms but also somehow not M&Ms...because they were Smarties, of course!
I'm just going to drop these videos here for my kids so they can watch a commercial about Smarties that is very familiar to my ears:
For the record, M&Ms were patented in 1941, while Smarties have been around since 1937 (though admittedly they have only ever very rarely been distributed in the United States. And it wouldn't make sense to do so under that name in the United States since Smarties (1949) are Rockets.
It was fun for the kids to get to try them (again—they've been sprinkled into their possession a number of times over the years as we and/or relatives have crossed the border with them).
Here are the kids helping Daddy pass out presents:
Zoë got tired of wrapping presents, so simply put the gift she made for Rachel into an empty granola bar box:
Growing up, I seem to recall passing out the presents similarly. We pass out every single present under the tree and each person waits until all the gifts have been distributed. Andrew's family did it the same way when he was growing up.
Phoebe had a little trouble with the waiting part.
Wait...how'd that present get torn open like that?
"I don't know! I am waiting! I am!"
I seem to recall taking turns opening presents...like...each person would open one present and then we'd go around again and again. And maybe we'll do that when all the kids are older. For now we do things the way Andrew grew up doing things—the youngest person opens all their gifts first and then they can start playing with things right away while the older kids open their presents. Everyone still watches, but each person opens all their gifts in turn, rather than just one.
It worked out pretty well this year. The older kids are patient enough to wait that long. And the littler kids simply didn't have as long to wait.
By the time Phoebe found herself wishing she could have the chance to rip the paper off something else...we were onto the gifts for the "family" so she got a second turn to open some presents, which was just perfect for her!
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