Happy Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Fiegel 5.

This Christmas was fun, because it was the first one the Colin and Veronica really got into. I think Veronica “got it” more than Colin — he’s still too into the moment to get caught up in the anticipation like she does. 

Throughout Advent, we did a family activity every night as part of our new Advent calendar (okay, we did end up skipping a few of the activities — no matter how carefully I planned it, a few things just didn’t work out). That worked out well because it helped us get in most of the fun Christmas-related things that often end up getting missed. Our calendar included things like “eat a candy cane” or “decorate and eat a cookie for dessert” or “go for a neighborhood lights walk.” 

I also had the kids write letters to Santa one night, which was very helpful when it came to getting presents. Veronica’s list included such items as “a purple car” and “candy (not crunchy),” while Colin’s include “a car,” “a motorcycle” and “crunchy candy.” And Santa did his best to make their wishes come true. 

Veronica’s favorite gifts, hands down, were the dolls. She got a Cabbage Patch doll — Gigi — from my parents (well, two, if you count Colin’s — Carl — which she immediately appropriated) and one that was a bit more in the style of an American Girl doll — Cassie — from us. In second place would probably be the absolutely wonderful campfire set my sister made the twins for playing camping (which they do nearly every day) and the food my mom knit to go with it. 

Veronica sitting next to Cassie. “She a big kid.
Not a baby like my other babies.”

Colin’s favorite gifts were the matchbox cars Ethan gave him (well, actually he preferred the cars Ethan gave Veronica, so while she was taking Carl, he was taking those) and the motorcycle Santa brought. In fact, he liked the motorcycle so much Veronica immediately wanted one too. (That didn’t go well … silly Santa, you always should bring two of everything.) Since Christmas, though, I think the campfire may have moved into first place. Colin has been cooking over that campfire for several meals a day. 

Colin with one of his new cars. “Look. A boat on top.”

Unfortunately, we ended up canceling our trip to Wisconsin to see John’s family on Christmas Day. I think we had packed just a little too much “go” into the previous few days. We ended up on Christmas with two crabby little kids and one crabby (and it turns out, sick) big kid. We didn’t want to spend a total of three hours trapped in the car with them in that state, so we ended up staying home. That was a bummer (and Veronica screamed in anger for a good hour after we told her we weren’t going), but I think it ended up being better to let everyone sleep and unwind.