Jeremy and I decided to do something a little different for the girls for Christmas this year. We told them we had not had a chance to go shopping together so we didn’t really have presents for them. Ellie, in particular, was a bit worried about this situation. But she went with it. The good news was that the girls had gifts for each other, so it felt like there were things under the tree.
They prepared for Santa the night before writing him a note….
setting out milk and cookies for him and carrots and oats for the reindeer (picture from the next morning).
Then, we tucked them in bed and put our big plan in motion. A big gift was wrapped, clues were hidden, and the day was ready!
They woke up early (like 6 and 6:20 according to them!). Thankfully, they didn’t get us up until about 7:30 which I feel like is a pretty good gift. We started with stockings and their gifts to each other.
Then, we paused for breakfast. And to investigate the sound we had heard in our garage the night before. Jeremy found Madison’s Christmas miracle – a stray kitten hiding on one of our shelves. It was very skittish. It will not be our pet. But it was cute and exciting nonetheless.
Restarted with the Santa gifts – acrylic paint for Ellie (and a volunteer application to the Humane Society) and paint markers for Madison.
They gave us their gifts they made for us – super creative and thoughtful. Madison made Jeremy an elastic pen holder that slips over her work journal cover. And she made me an infinity scarf.
Ellie put together the ultimate snack basket for Jeremy to “take” to work. And she worked at a neck pillow for me since I fall asleep when we travel.
Jeremy got me (us) some frames to hang around the house. And a beautifully framed print of one of Phil Epp’s paintings. (J Augspurger had helped him frame it). It is gorgeous. (I think the not-so-subtle message of this Christmas is for me to hang some things on the walls!)
Oh, and Pepper got some gifts – a big, durable frisbee and some calming bones (with hemp).
Then, they opened their big gift to discover – a Highlights Top Secret Puzzle and a clue on top of a stack of wrapped boxes. This was the start of their grand adventure.
They read clues that took them around the house, to Grandma and Grandpa Ediger’s, and to Luke and Steph’s. They collected small gifts and additional clues for later as they went.
At the end (Clue 10), they learned they hadn’t yet figured out what was happening and that the fun had just begun. They began opening additional envelopes and solving math problems, decoding places using Morse Code, and reading maps.
By the end they had uncovered the actual gift – a 5 day trip to California with visits to Disneyland, San Diego Zoo, a beach, and Joshua Tree National Park. It should be a blast … assuming it doesn’t get derailed by COVID like almost all our other trips have been. January travel here we come!
