Christmas 2009 sponsored by Lego

Time to finally wrap up Christmas here at the House of Crackers. The fire hazard known as our Christmas tree came down early on the 28th. Not only do we like to get the tree down by the time C's birthday sneaks up on us, but we also wanted it down before our good friends come to stay with us in what has become an annual visit.

Looking back, Christmas day was a little more hectic around here this year than it has been in the past. We hosted both a Christmas morning brunch with my family early in the day, then later a Turkey dinner with all the trimmings for Mr. Crackers' family. While the events of the day had me spending a couple of hours in my kitchen, I have to admit that it was really nice to stay home. Both of my two hooligans got to relax a bit a have a great time playing with all of their new toys - 90% of which seemed to be Legos.

I really think in hindsight I should have bought stock in the Lego company sometime earlier this year. The only thing C wanted for Christmas was Legos. Well, I guess strictly speaking he did have one other request...he said he also wanted a robot that would "serve him". I'm not sure where that idea came from, but since Santa wasn't going to fill that request, realistically speaking all he wanted was Legos.


K also caught Lego fever this year. Her 2 big requests this Christmas were a Lego Duplo Zoo set & a "fairy, butterfly building set". (After a little investigation, I discovered that this was a Superstructs Pinklets set, which I know aren't really Legos but since it's a building set...it might as well be.)




Since it seemed a little strange to only get them Legos, Mr Crackers & I got a little creative with the gifts. C got a new radio for his room and a Jr. Electronics kit. K got some new Calico Critters to add to her ever growing collection of small woodland animals she can undress and leave naked in her room.

But since the hooligans had such a short list of gift requests, we made sure we had the Lego bases covered so to speak.

Even though we did try to diversify the gifts a bit, it is amazing how many Legos made their way into our house this holiday season. Between Christmas & C's birthday 3 days later, our home has been turned into Legoland. It seems like that red Lego logo or a pile of bricks can be found in nearly every picture I took Christmas Day. It's like where's Waldo...

Look Ma! More Legos!

Can you find the Legos in this picture?

Here's Katie's Duplo Zoo set. It's really cute & has gotten a lot of playtime over Christmas break so far. I have to say one thing for the Lego company. They sure know how to make toys that seem capture both of my children's imagination.

This is how one of C's large sets looked early Christmas morning. It was a Star Wars set with something like 900 pieces...

Here's how that same set looked a couple of hours later. Geez, that kid is getting fast. I have lost complete track of just how many Lego sets C has built over the holiday break, but let's just say that we've had to do some major rearranging in his room to give all of his new Lego sets a home.

While I am a little sad to see the Christmas season come to an end, it will be nice to get back into our routines again. I am craving a little quiet time once the 2 kiddos head back to school.

Now we just have 2 more events before our lives can get back to "normal". We'll be heading to our neighbor's annual New Year's Eve party on Thursday(which is always a great time), then we have C's birthday party on Saturday for his friends. I have quite a bit to do to get ready for the party, but since it's a relatively small one this year, I think I'll be able to finish pulling it together pretty quickly. The theme he picked this year (Lord help me) is ... Legos.

Looks like we may have to make a little more space in C's room before the week is out.