Luke was probably the most excited, or at least the most vocal in his excitement. As I know I have mentioned we don't really do presents throughout the year. Even birthdays are generally marked by an outing and not a gift, so we tend to get a lot at Christmas. Although, we don't go too overboard; based on the pictures I see on Facebook, I think we are actually fairly average in the number of presents given.
Everyone got books. Kara and Luke both got complete series of books they like (Dogman for Luke and Lorien Legacies for Kara). Jack got some high-level books that I honestly don't understand how he can read, like "A Short History of the Byzantium" which isn't really all that short at 3 volumes. Anna only got one book, her gift from Jack on fashion through the ages. Speaking of the fashion book, the kids were pretty thoughtful in their gifts this year. I appreciate when they take the time to consider what their siblings and parents might actually appreciate.
There were several gifts I was excited to give. I got Kara a book she saw when we were in Asheville and was able to have it inscribed by the author (an art book called The Art of Abandonment). She said it was her favorite gift. I mostly got Thomas the same things I always get him like baseball cards and an old newspaper. I received some great presents, like really powerful binoculars, earrings I love and a watch.
But, I was most excited to give Jack and Anna their big present--their own phones! The three older kids have been sharing a phone since they started middle school. That hadn't been the plan, but we found we wanted to be able to communicate that they made it to the bus stop (when we were both working and they had to get themselves there) and Florida holds kids at school if it is lightening, so it was nice to know when that was happening (it is not consistently applied). Because they shared, they took turns being in charge of the phone. We figured now that Jack and Anna are 14, it was time for them to have a phone of their own. By default, that meant Kara got to keep the old phone to herself. We don't love that idea, but she would have it in August anyway (as the only kid left at the middle school) and it seemed mean to take away now.
We saved the phones for last. Jack didn't seem very excited or surprised, but Anna was thrilled. Kara was also thrilled when she realized it meant that she got the old phone all to herself. Anna got hers set up the way she wants it, Thomas and I set up Jack's. We instituted parental controls and talked about how they have zero expectation of privacy. Hopefully, we can trust them to make good choices. I did take a video of Anna opening hers, here is a screenshot:
We spent the day enjoying our gifts. We played new games (Cat and Mouth seems to be the boy's favorite) and snacked on leftovers. Jack fell asleep around 5 and didn't get up until 7am on the 26th. When he woke, he wasn't sure if it was morning or night. I was very jealous of his 14-hour night's sleep!
We let them do unlimited electronics in the days following Christmas and they are taking full advantage (although, happily, they are still going outside and playing with toys other than electronics). It was a good Christmas. The kids even proclaimed it their favorite Christmas. Santa brought the boys handheld gaming consoles (like a souped up gameboy), Kara got noise cancelling headphones, and Anna got a Kindle.
Favorite gifts:
Thomas: the newspaper
Kori: earrings
Anna: phone
Jack: gameboy
Kara: Abandoned Art book
Luke: Wii replacement gamepad
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