I have the greatest kids in the world, and even though of course I know I am slightly biased, I still count my blessings every day.   I think that God was trying to “even things out” in my life when he blessed me with such great kids.  I have had a lot of **IT on one end of the scale, and on the other side– 3 of the best kids ever.  I think it was a good trade off and I appreciate God for making that concession for me. 

Christmas at my house was really fun.  I completely surprised my kids with some stuff (not that easy to do these days) and they surprised me as well.   Both my sons completely impressed me with their cleverness and original gifts that not only took a major amount of thought and effort, but touched my heart as well.  It made me happy to see that they put so much thought into their gifts…so much for every cliche’ we have ever heard about men at Christmastime.

My oldest son made me a photo album of photos that basically summed up our lives of the past 18 years.  The best part of the album was (by far) the content.  Somehow he managed to get into the family archives and dig up photos that were unique (and funny) that I had also forgotten about.  It almost made me weep…except I was laughing at some of them pretty hard.  I absolutely loved that he did this for me.  Here are a few of the pics that he chose:

 

My youngest son is in a perpetual state of being “flat broke” because he doesn’t have a real job.  That being said, he had to rely on his cleverness and ingenuity to pull of his gift to me this year.  I received a stack of “bucks” that looked like this:

The letter that came with the stack of “money” went like this:   One dollar can get you a hug or a kiss.  Two dollars can get you a back scratch or help with the dishes or I will keep you company on a dog walk.  5 dollars can buy you a car wash or I will walk the dogs instead of you.  10 dollars will buy you a break while I do a chore of your choice (unless it is the kids bathroom or your bathroom!)  If you pay me $25 dollars I will do the kids bathroom.  Under no circumstances will I ever clean your bathroom.  If there is anything that you feel should be added to this list that I forgot about, we will discuss it Christmas day. 

I will be saving that letter for the rest of my life.  (CLASSIC!)  He completely made my day, except for his clear fear of my bathroom.  This I believe can only be explained by the large amount of “girly” things found in there–including bubble bath, soaps, lotions, hair brushes, and (God forbid) a box of tampons or any other such things that would make any teenage boy run in terror.  ha! 

Thanks to my kids for making this Christmas one of the most fun and memorable ones ever!