Even though we don’t believe in the religious aspects of Christmas, we still celebrated with gifts, food, and family.
I must give a lot of thanks to Nina. Not only did she wrap all the gifts and stuffed three stockings with little things, she also cooked an entire meal for us, my mother, my brother, my parents, and my mom’s sister.
Niko’s face when we came down the stairs and he saw all the nicely wrapped gifts was priceless! He wanted to open them all and of course, we let him! Most of his were books although the biggest hit for him was probably the smallest; his very own lip balm! Nina and I also got him an Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Edition Tablet; it has lots of parental controls and is very kid oriented with games and education materials. I think as he gets more familiar with it, it will be very useful and fun for him; dude, it even has a front and camera. I know I have mentioned before that I don’t want Niko to rely on electronics to amuse or distract him, but this particular tablet has screen time that is determined by mom and dad. And, it’s not like we are going to bring it everywhere we go; maybe just a long trip. When we are in the car, he is happy to have drinks and peanut butter ritz crackers or some other similar snack and he talks and asks us lots of questions.
As for me, I enjoyed everything that was for me that Niko opened. I got gifts cards for Amazon and StitchFix, t-shirts, a onesie, post shaving soap, a pack of 20 Brownie Brittle snack bags, a calendar with Niko pictures for work, and candy of all kinds. Niko and I got Nina a very nice birthstone necklace handmade from Etsy.com. I will admit and tell you that I felt bad that I didn’t get Nina more things; well, just wait till next year. Now, I know how the stockings work (little things) and already have something in my Amazon wish list for you and will add things throughout the year as you mention something.
Something we wanted to do this Christmas but didn’t is establish traditions for our family. What that will encompass, I don’t know. Hopefully next year!
Next year, I am planning on doing Hanukkah for Niko; I guess I should start thinking of what to get him as we got 8 nights of presents!
