Even though we don’t believe in the religious aspects of the holidays, Niko thoroughly enjoyed opening up his yesterday. Nina and Niko picked a real pine tree and they decorated it together. On Thursday, Nina baked a cake and together, they decorated it. I observed and was glad to eat some later that evening.
It was funny, because for the past several weeks, anything that got delivered to our house, Niko asked is that one of my gifts. He isn’t the type of kid who would try to sneak a peek. Although, we did tell him that no legos or tiles would be a gift this year as he has plenty of those. Nina and I have good hiding spots for gifts; hers is in her IKEA wardrobe or on top of my armoire and mine is in our kitchen cabinets.
He also knows that Santa Claus isn’t real, but he still left a plate of cookies, some milk, and a note. I happily agreed to eat the cookies and milk and write a funny note of thanks!
Last year during the holidays, we put snacks and drinks on our front porch for all of the delivery drivers and we have continued doing that every day since. It’s nice to see them take something. They all work hard. Usually when they come, I can see them as my 2nd story work from home office is near a window. I open that window and say thanks and they look up and smile and reply your welcome. Even Niko does the same thing!
One of the best gifts he got was from us as it was a fort building kit that can be used indoors and outdoors from Lakeshore Learning. I think for the majority of the day, we built forts and one of those forts was a place for dad to go to jail. What I did, I am still asking! I wish I had something like that when I was his age. I mean, I used a table, and my brother and I would drape a sheet or blanket over it and that was our fort.
He also got some new video games for his Nintendo Switch. I always tell him how much better his game system is than mine when I was younger. One of the things that blows his mind is when I tell him the controls were connected by a plug from the control to the game system.
I was very glad that I didn’t have to put anything together. All I had to do was help open some of the boxes and put some batteries in a night light. Easy! Even breaking down the boxes for recycling was easy!
We gifted three cast iron frying pans to our family members. We actually have two; one small and one larger, and they cook nicely, clean easily, and can go in oven or on stovetop. I got my parents a gift certificate to a new Jewish restaurant in town. I am also looking forward to trying it and hopefully, that can be soon rather than later since the three of us are vaccinated.
As for Nina, I got her favorite candy, a University of Hawaii alumni sweatshirt (her old one is old), and three bags of Utz potato chips. I didn’t know she liked those chips until she came home from a Target run a few weeks ago with a bag. A few days ago, she came home again with the last two bags on the shelf from Target. She told me she grew up close to the Utz factory.
As for me, Nina and Niko got me my favorite candy, bamboo underwear from Cariloha, thermal underwear, a wallet, and a tin of popcorn. Niko also took my wireless Bluetooth earbuds that I have next to my laptop and wrapped them up as a gift for me. It was funny and totally unexpected.
During the day, we had the original The Jungle Book and 101 Dalmatians playing in the background. When Niko was playing by himself, I finished reading one of the Richard Branson’s autobiographies and just started another one. I also mowed the backyard in the morning.
