The 12 Days of Christmas

Sometime in early December Frank became obsessed with the idea of 

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Each night he would make some comment about how we should be opening presents.

He would mention that there were no presents under the tree for him.

And I would remind him that 

we have never opened gifts before Christmas 

(except pajamas on Christmas Eve),

buying that many gifts would be awfully expensive,

and

we are traveling to Oregon for Christmas this year

and all of the presents have been shipped there

thus

no presents under the tree!

But he had wrapped a small box for me.

small 

totally shippable or fit-in-your-pocket-and-bring-to-Oregon size.

He talked about it so much that Carter and I decided that we had better just go shopping!

We bought him 12 gifts in one trip.

All from one store.

We weren't super picky...if it looked moderately fun/interesting/his size/useful, we bought it.

HA!

We showed him.

We told him that the "first" day of Christmas would be that Sunday

(counting 12 days until we leave for Oregon, not until Christmas)

And we piled all the gifts under the tree.

Here is a very bad picture of his presents, before we put them under the tree.

Here is Frank trying to open them prematurely.

On the first day of Christmas we each opened a present.

We gave him a battery operated card shuffler

I know, so exciting!

(but we've been playing cards every single night for a couple of weeks, so it was a good gift)

But my gift...

my tiny little gift.

Was a remote car starter!

What the heck?

This was supposed to be a trinket exchange.

I now understood why he was going on and on about the 12 days of Christmas...

He wanted me to open my car starter.

He's so cute.

However, since that first day he has been surprisingly excited about opening his gifts.

every night he reminds us that its time to open one

And when he went out of town for one night, he wanted to open two gifts the next night he was home.

I think he's secretly hoping to get something worth getting.

hahaha

So far he has gotten:

the card shuffler (he actually likes it a lot and thinks it brings him luck when he plays)

a notebook for keeping score when we play cards

a sweater (that was too small)

pajama pants

Corduroys

a pair of scissors for him to keep in his office (that I've since been using for my crochet. oops)

some pecan caramels

cookies

Today I snuck out and bought him a game because EVERY NIGHT when he's shaking and poking at his gift

he says, "I wonder if it's a game"

Tonight, blast it all, it will be a game!