What Will Santa Bring?

It's December 22nd. Santa is still puzzled about what to bring to our house.

Gracie, 7 and a HALF!,  has asked for several things, but doesn't seem to intent on anything so far. She forgets what she wanted the day before, so changes it up. She's been asking for Monster High dolls for a while now and I've flat out said no to those ugly things. I think Santa will bring some though. He is a lot nicer than mom after all. She's also asked for the 2013 Holiday Barbie. It's a $50 Barbie doll that will end up naked with ratted hair and Gracie will never play with it after the newness wears off. Gracie also asked for a Barbie Dream House. We already have two. And she asked for a singing Ariel doll. The current Little Mermaid doll population currently outnumbers the Schumacher population in this house already. She got the singing Ariel doll two years ago and didn't play with it much. Last year she asked for batteries for her singing Ariel. She got them and didn't play with the doll. It's in the bottom of a toy box, but it works! And she asked for a Chinese hand fan. Honestly, I don't think she knows what she wants. She doesn't play with dolls very often; she prefers cars. And she is growing up and out of the imaginative play stage. She wants to do things. She wants to be treated like she's older. She just doesn't know what kind of toys reflect her desire to grow up a little bit.

Libby, 5, knows what she wants and she seems to be persistent about her short wish list.  She wants paper. She wants a lot of paper to write on. We are running out around here and the girl just needs  more paper! She's also asked for a doll and some chocolate. But those are secondary to the paper.  When she visited Santa at the dentist's office, she asked him for a flying fairy doll. I thought she made that up, but there really is such a doll and it's $40. Looks like it will break the minute it comes out of the package. I think she's sort of forgotten about it. Probably not. Lately, she's been focusing on the wish for more paper.

Charlie, 3, knows what he wants. I wish Santa good luck! He wants his mom back and he got that wish. Everything else is frosting on the cake, but here's his list:  He wants a flying bumblebee that has a remote control and shoots lasers with its eyes.  He also wants a pet goose and his own electric cord. He wants a cord because he loves to play with cords in the house and I never let him. As he says, "Gramma won't share". So, he wants his own. Way to work Santa and Gramma against each other, kiddo.  Charlie has also been asking (since his birthday) for a lipstick taser gun. He saw it in a movie and it really stuck in his head. He wants a tiny taser gun and he wants me to dance when he shoots me with it. Hmmm. I asked him if he would like a toy car. He shrugged and said "Ok".

I think the kids will be happy with anything they find under the tree. They seem to be so happy to have a simple Christmas this year.

We put up the tree and they didn't ask for ornaments, they immediately started coloring and cutting and making their own decorations. Libby made a yellow star for the top. Not one of them asked to get out our decorations, so I just didn't. I love the little scraps of paper covering our tree!

Since I didn't get the ornaments out, I decided to make new stockings for the kids. Their good stockings are in the ornament box in the garage somewhere. I used up some scraps and made smaller stockings. They love them. Easy!

I think this is going to be one of my favorite Christmases. We've done no baking, no cards, and so far their favorite activity is to go driving around looking at Christmas lights. I am enjoying the lack of stress, overwhelming party schedules, and too much to do.  And I especially love the fact that the kids are not demanding the most expensive toys on the market!