The Seven Days of Christmas: Christmas Day and Beyond

This final chapter (finally!) is brought to you by LEGO. For weeks Isaac had talked about getting toys for Christmas. When asked for specifics, he replied "Just toys". As he says, it's not like he didn't have a room full already, but he just wanted....toys! With two doting grandmothers, three grandfathers, and adoring parents to help, Santa had no trouble fulfilling this wish. In fact there were plenty of toys for everyone. Jill got a new bike, so she can keep up with her kids. We gave Irene and Isaac a puppet theater with an assortment of puppets.

We were told to be there Christmas morning at 7:00 AM, so we were. We had to lay on the doorbell to get anyone to let us in. We woke up the house.

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We opened stockings, then had our Christmas breakfast before opening gifts. Isaac had saved his new Star Wars Lego's from the day before to entertain himself while waiting for the new round of....toys.

And now, here we go!

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Space Lego's! This is a family devoted to, and expert on, the space shuttle program. I believe that box says 'for ages 16 +', but Uncle Jake is there, eager to help.

Irene got Castle Lego's, complete with a princess.

Uff. One big box!

Containing Rapunzel's tower.

R2D2! He is voice activated, but a very smart toy that had us outsmarted at first. It was discovered that he is quite sensitive, and was eventually sent to his (Isaac's) room, to a more quiet environment, to recover from being over stimulated in our noisy household.

Time to try out the new stuff while the turkey is cooking.

Grandpa got some great new pop up books to add to his collection.

Jake takes a break from the Lego Construction Business.

We had a delicious Christmas dinner about 3:00. Then Corey was off to work, on patrol for the Morgan County Sheriff's Department. The rest of us had toys and left overs to keep us happy for the rest of the day.

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Sunday was a day of rest, except for Jake, who "had" to oversee the construction of a space shuttle.

We watched football half heartedly, as both the Seahawks and the Broncos were bad, again. Irene and I went out for a walk again in the sunshine.

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That evening we watched the third of the Star Wars Trilogy. It has been a long time since Tom and I saw these movies, so it was almost like seeing them new again.

Monday brought the completion of the shuttle, external tanks yet to go.

Jake was now recruited to help build a castle, while Isaac labored on.

We staked out time to play another round of Creationary. This is a great game, a Lego version of Pictionary, where you construct instead of drawing. All of us could play it together, from 5 year old Irene to Grandpa.

And as time was drawing near for us to depart, completion of the space shuttle was achieved.

Before our long drive to the airport, I took the kids outside to play. And then I snapped one last photo, of the blue sky, to bring back home with me for those rainy days we will be having here in the Pacific Northwest.

I called Jill on Tuesday. She and the kids were busy working in the kids' rooms, sorting toys, packing up those to save in the basement and those to give away, making room for the new abundance.

Yes, we all know how fortunate we are. And we do also know that it is the people more than the presents that make the season bright. But as Irene said of Christmas on the day after, "It was a wonderful day!"