Whew! Am I glad Christmas is done and over! Don't get me wrong ... I enjoy celebrating the birth of my Saviour ... but the "commercial side" of Christmas is too overwhelming ... especially with 4 kids! We went to bed at 9:30pm Christmas Day ... and I did not get out of bed until 9:45am this morning!! I was more than exhausted after the events of this past weekend!! But ... I do have to be grateful for family ... my parents, my in-laws and my brother and sister ... not to mention the local church that helped us out ... if it wasn't for these guys my kids' "present time" would not be one to "write home about." So ... to each of you ... "Thank you for making my kids' Christmas wishes come true!"
Let's see if I can give you a few highlights from the holiday gift giving season. First off, my favorite Craigslist purchase ... of course ... was a Step 2 LifeStyle Deluxe Kitchen for $100 for my two youngest daughters. I sold their older, smaller one for $90 ... therefore I really only ended up paying $10 for the new kitchen!! Yeah! And, BTW ... they LOVE it! The older one was too small for both of them to play well together ... and, well, even though this one is bigger I guess they still don't play "well" together (the 2 year old doesn't want to share) ... but at least they have the room to play together! : )
Next, we were able to find
a great Audio V-Rocker for my son on CL for below half of the retail price. He enjoys getting away from all of his sisters by hiding away in his room and playing his PS2. So, he also got a new loft bed, which I paid $12 for at IKEA, (so we can pass the old one down to the 2 year old) and he'll be able to create a cool area under his bed for playing his video games and such! Oh, and I mustn't forget the Guitar Hero III with 2 guitar controllers we found at a great sale price at Target!! Plus, a fun new game we got our oldest daughter ... Singstar 80's. It's really fun to play!!Other than that, most of what we got came from my parents. My mom has always gone ALL
OUT for Christmas ... even though we've never been able to afford it. My mom is truly one that tries her best to make everyone's Christmas dreams come true ... even though she has 3 kids, 2 son-in-laws, and 10 grandchildren to buy for ... not to mention, my dad. So, some of the many highlights from Christmas with my family was a treadmill (for me, my brother and my sister) ... all purchased through CL (my mom learns quickly), several items for the kids picked up for free ( including a bike for both of my youngest daughters and Star Wars lego sets for 
my son), a $75 perfect computer system for my nephews (thanks to CL), my husband's Roomba, digital cameras for my daughter, niece and nephew, and a digital camcorder for my brother ... all bought on sale on Black Friday. Seriously, the list goes on and on! Wait ... not to mention ... the best gifts of all ... the ones my dad makes!! This year it was a boat shelf for my son, a TV stand for my nephew, awesome bath wall hangings for my sister and I, and a pool cue shelf for my brother.Thus, through all the Christmas chaos ... the most important thing of all was the family time! We spent time with my husband's parents on Saturday and then were with my family on Tuesday. Nothing in the world can replace FAMILY!! Not even my husband's Roomba (sorry, Dear)!
