My favorite time of the year

The holiday cheer is officially upon us – we’ve put up the tree and decorations and acorns and lots of lights to get everyone in the mood for Christmas. We even had some presents under the tree but I left the kids alone in the living room for 5 minutes and I came out to find them shredding wrappers. Like two little frenzied hamsters.

“GUYS!! NOOOOOO!!!! You can’t open them for another 3 weeks,” I said, looking horrified.

“But this one is mine! See, K-I-R-S-T-E-N. That’s my name, so I can open it,” Kirsten explained while holding up a half-torn wrapper.

“Yes, but not yet. You can look at it and admire it and shake it to guess what’s inside but you can’t open it till Christmas morning.”

It was her turn to look horrified and then I realized that ok, it was a little cruel to make them resist the urge to rip open their presents for 3 whole weeks. Delayed gratification is not one of their strengths.

So long story short, the presents are now stashed in a secure location, away from compulsive, itchy fingers. We’ll only put them under the tree on Christmas eve and hope they don’t go into hamster mode in the middle of the night.

Just 15 days to go, I think their excitement is rubbing off on us too.

P.S. Kirsten was quite ill but she insisted that she wanted to take a picture with the Christmas tree. I thought she was being festive but right after, she was all “I took pictures very well so I can get potato chips right?” Well played, my mercenary little genius.

P.P.S. She didn’t get her chips but I did give her a coupon to trade for some when she’s feeling better.

P.P.P.S. Shortly after, she asked to take pictures with baby Finn. Guess who’s not falling for that?