Christmas 2009

I'm sitting here on Christmas night all alone. The kids are all in bed (though I can still hear murmurs) M is at work, the house is very quiet... and I'm LOVING it! I've had a great day, although the 5.15am start not so great. It's our daughter's first Christmas and our first Christmas as a 'complete' family of 5 so it was extra special but now I am relishing the peace and quiet.

We watched the kids open their presents in a flurry of ripping paper and squeals of excitement. As predicted our daughter was content with the wrapping paper. She'd find a stray ball of screwed up paper, bite onto it and proceed to crawl around with it in her mouth, as happy as anything. At least it (the paper, not the baby!) doesn't require batteries.

Battery operated toys. Every parent's worst nightmare. Battery operated toys invariably = NOISE. Not to mention the lack of imagination needed to operate them. It's a hot topic in our house at the moment. Today M and I decided that next Christmas would be Battery-Free. We told the Grandparents that they could only buy Christmas presents for the kids that did not require batteries. The same rule applies to what Santa/we bring the kids too.

I was watching the chaos unfold and the kids getting crazier as they played with one noisy toy after another, and had the battery-free idea. I find that with my kids, if their play space is really messy (more than the usual 'mess') then they start getting edgy and naughty, like they can't play calmly in a chaotic environment, and today was that example to the extreme. And the funny thing is, that after a whole day of sampling all their toys, the ones that they were most interested in tonight were the ones without batteries. W sat and played with the Mobilo (a type of building/connecting set) and N pushed around 2 trucks, loaded up with various toys (blocks,plastic fruit,dolly etc) for ages, and they were both happy,calm and relaxed. Don't get me wrong, the kids have had their fair share of 'no-brainer' noisy toys, I just think it's time to draw the line and shift the focus to more nurturing toys.

So anyway, now I'm just sitting here enjoying the peace and quiet whilst reflecting on a fantastic Christmas day spent with my gorgeous family. Ahhhh, the serenity........