I know I'm a day late, but...
Merry Christmas to you and your kids!
It was Tia's first Christmas. Just like with Monch back in 2010, it was more for us than it was for her.
For, Monch, however, it was a different story. This was the first Christmas that he actually had an idea of what was happening around him. He knows who Santa Claus is. He recognized Christmas decorations as markers of the season. And since he's in pre-school now, he exchanged gifts with friends and teachers and even attended the school Christmas party. But the biggest success is that he did not open his gifts until December 25th.
Excited for Christmas, as early as mid-November, I had bought three Lamaze hanging dolls for Tia's Christmas gifts. On November 30th, I went and bought Monch his first Christmas gift, a huge The Very Hungry Caterpillar themed coloring book. I went ahead and wrapped it and put it under our young Christmas tree. (I say young cause we got a live one.)
Of course when Monch saw it, he wanted to open it right away. I explained that it was for Christmas. I told him to get his iPad. When he got it, I told him that we can open his gift when the date became 25. And this became the start of our version of the marshmallow test. A 25-day long marshmallow test. A Yuletide marshmallow test.
Almost every morning, when he woke up, he would go to his iPad and check the date. At the start he'd be "Aw! It's not 25 yet." By the end of the second week, he would announce the date every morning, like "Mamam, it's 15, not 25, 15."
At the start every time someone gave him a Christmas gift, I had to remind him not to open the gift. By the time they had his school Christmas party (December 14), I only had to remind him once that he had to wait before opening gifts. He would wait for us to get home. As soon as we got home, he'd get the gift and put it under the Christmas tree.
On December 24th, we had Christmas eve dinner with his dada's family. We got home at around 11:40pm. He was starting to get cranky because he was sleepy. Playing with his cousins usually tires him out like that. After we had settled down, I let him nurse. After that it was time to open gifts. While he was nursing, I asked him to check his iPad if it was the 25th yet. He went down and checked but it was still a few minutes shy of midnight. He started playing a game. When it was midnight, his dada and I asked him to check the date again. He got a bit upset because he was playing a game and he had just checked a few minutes earlier. But we finally convinced him and he was sooooo happy!!!
I'm surprised I got him to pose by the Christmas tree with all the presents before he started opening. I was so proud of him that he was able to hold out. I'm looking forward to the time when Tia will also appreciate Christmas. After all, I honestly believe that Christmas is for kids.
Do you wait for Christmas to open your gifts?
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