Christmas Catch-up Part 1: Pre-Christmas Gifts

We have so much to say about what has happened over the past month that I've felt too overwhelmed to begin! I feel that way about my personal journal almost all the time, so it's always missing great stuff. (I guess that should be my New Year's resolution.)

This Christmas we made a sort of impromptu decision to go to Utah, so some of our holiday plans had to be rearranged. Since we would be flying down there we decided to give some of our bigger gifts early.

They boys received these really cool trucks from Grandma and Grandpa Duersch (before we knew we'd be with them for Christmas). Benjamin quickly assumed playing rights to both vehicles at once (hooking the backhoe's bucket onto the dump truck and using one to tow the other) so Rhett occupied himself with the packing materials until he could secure some of his own time with the trucks. In the picture Rhett, with his chubby little fingers, is putting a tiny screw through a hole in a plastic piece of packaging. Can you believe we had to get out a screwdriver to disengage the trucks from their packages? That's anti-theft for you, I suppose.


Paul's gift to me may not seem like much, yet it's one of those things I wouldn't necessarily rush out to buy for myself but that I will definitely use a lot for many years. No, the Rubbermaid tote is not part of the gift. That's how Paul wraps presents.


Paul's gift from me was supposed to be a surprise, but I need to practice my secretive gift-buying. For one thing, don't buy it with a credit card since he'll eventually check the account and notice a purchase at Home Depot for the amount of the item I asked him if he might want a week earlier. Most importantly, don't put it in the back of the car, carelessly wrapped in some new jeans, where he's sure to find it as he repacks the car for our trip home from Richland after Thanksgiving. As much as I wanted him to, he didn't forget about it or think it was for someone else.