Christmas Day

So Christmas day Little Man woke up and said, "It's Christmas, it's 9 o'clock." It wasn't, but we were awake anyway after that. We brushed our teeth, combed our hair and headed downstairs (after my sister and I hung back and brought out the chests and put them in their final destination for the treasure hunt that would happen later). My Mom was home from work and she had called my brother to wake him and my nephew up and to tell them to come on over (they live a block away from my folks). While we waited Little Man opened up one present, the present he had asked Santa for: Percy the train. That kept him occupied until my brother and nephew arrived and then the Christmas explosion began. I had my Mom, Marcus and Doozer open up the trays I had made for them (which were the projects that required hazmat protection; they are heat and water-proofed now thanks to a resin coating). Marcus opened up the glass tumblers and feigned happiness, then said Oh Sh*t when he realized I had etched the Superman logo onto them, score one for me, he really liked them. The boys unwrapped and unwrapped, and in the end we all received great presents (I myself received some cool DVDs, Denise Interchangeable Needles, a KnitPicks Chart Keeper, a beautiful urn to grow an herb garden for my windowsill, and much more). I won't give a list of what everyone received, some highlights are pictured below.

After opening the wrapped presents I showed the boys the treasure map and the first clue to finding their "treasure." I bought the paper and aged it after drawing the clues.

The map had the first tag attached to it. The tags were designed on the computer using a digital treasure map design and Victorian Pop-Up Card template from ScrapGirls. There were three tags total (I kept it simple since the boys are little). Each tag had a clue and an actual photo of where the next tag would be.


We placed the tags the night before after the boys were down and when we were putting out the rest of the gifts.


Then Christmas morning my sister and I put the chests at the bottom of the stairwell after Little Man had gone downstairs, and closed the door until it was time for him and Ethan to find them.

The hunt was fun, not too long, and the boys had a lot of fun playing with their treasure chests. Each got an age-appropriate book about pirates, an eye patch, a vest, a bandanna, a hat, a sword, a compass, a bottle with paper to write messages, a coin pouch with play money, a pirate ship playset, a telescope, a hook, a pirate puzzle, and a picture frame. Little Man also got pirate tub toys and a pirate Mr. Potato Head set. The whole idea came to me after finding all the different things in the Target dollar section. Then I got the chests 40% from A.C. Moore and stained them and added their initials.

My Mom got into the pirate theme herself, she sewed each of the boys a pair of flannel pirate pajama bottoms. She also made them the movie Cars pajama bottoms. They turned out great, and Little Man has already worn them quite a few times.



After presents we all had cookies and cake for breakfast with eggnog. Then it was time to clean-up and take in all of our gifts. Later we enjoyed a ham dinner, and each other's company. And that was our Christmas 2007!