It's all about the prezzies!

We Bisetts didn't half fare well on the gift front! And this year we had them coming at us from all sides. I'm almost on first name turns with our friendly UPS driver. (Mental note for Momma: make sure to put a shirt on throughout December.) 

Thank you friends and family for spoiling us rotten this Christmas time. Every single gift was appreciated mega loads, although some were appreciated blog better than others.

Narrowing it down to a top five (or even a top ten) was a tough call. Too tough in fact (don't want to put any gift-bearer's nose out of joint). So instead I'm giving out five gift category 'blog' awards. 

Biggest Surprise Award:

This award has to go to the hubs. I didn't have the foggiest clue he'd been plotting to bring me up to speed with I-technology. We exchanged gifts Christmas Eve and I was super overwhelmed when my old man sprung an I-phone on me. Suddenly his designer shirts from Ross looked a little shabby.  

Does my I-phone BLEND into the background?

Ironically it shouldn't have been such a surprise. A random email from I-tunes earlier that same day might have tipped me off were I not still suffering from an acute case of baby-brain. I deleted it before really reading it, thinking it was spam. I even tried to retrieve it from my trash seconds later once it dawned on me from the subject matter (blah blah.. something about a recent I-phone purchase.. blah blah) that maybe we'd been the victim of some fraudulent credit card activity..

Not caring all that much (it was Christmas eve - I had bigger fish to fry), I gave up the search, after failing to find my Gmail trash within 20 seconds. My 5 month old promptly reclaimed my full attention and I forgot all about it.

I've wanted one for ages, but I hadn't dared to dream. This week, I even told the hubs we were better off without them otherwise we'd only start ignoring the kids, then each other. Same as I wouldn't want to win the lottery because life would no longer be full of challenges.

Pffft!

In spite of my delight I put it back in its box and didn't look at it again until today (boxing day). I did mention I was overwhelmed, didn't I? 

The truth is I'm scared of it. I'm a Microsoft girl. Apple technology is all new to me. I know it's intuitive - I've seen my two year old navigate Daddy's I-pad while standing on his head. But that doesn't stop me from being a little intimidated about making the technical transition. I'm afraid of the unknown.

Daddy made sure to buy me a kid proof (and Josie proof) purple indestructible case. I can drop it in a 6.5 foot deep swimming pool, let L-boy stomp on it, and Little Miss D suck on it. I can even lose it and the internet will tell me where it is. 

I'm still not taking it out of the house without hanging it from a chain around my neck. Or better yet, I might strap it to Little Miss D. She has an uncanny knack of staying attached to Momma.

Most Practical Gift Award:

This one definitely goes to my MIL. Not only did I get my cabin deep cleaned - but I got the double-whammy gift of spending boxing day on the living room floor playing with the kids and their new toys instead of scrubbing the kitchen! 

My priorities aren't messed up (like my house). I'd much rather play with the kids than clean - so that's what I usually do, but boy do I feel guilty about the grime. Daddy is thinking that maybe splurging for a deep clean once in a blue moon is much cheaper than marriage counselling. I'm thinking he may have a good point...

I can see my face in that oven top!

There might have been a time when somebody spotting me for a house clean would have ruffled my dirty feathers. Not any more folks! I'm not proud. I have three babies and the last thing I want to do with my free time is clean - when would I get the chance to blog?

Last week I dreamt that the cleaner didn't make it out of my bedroom closet in four hours. I woke up sweating. What a nightmare! In reality she didn't make it too far out of my kitchen, (which aint that much bigger than the closet) but boy did it need it!

Furthest Traveled Gift Award:

So many boxes and packages arrived from overseas this Christmas - just about the only 'pro' of having loved ones dispersed around the world (that and having somewhere free to bunk on nearly every continent). 

Tweety bird flew over 6500 air miles to be
 with us on Christmas day. (Note the shiny
 ceramic oven top in the background)

My Geography isn't too terrible that I needed to Google who wins this one. Hands down our friend living in Japan takes this with her Chocolate Banana treats and cartoon character tea-bag heat pads.

These (not really) 'tea-bags' are magic tea bags. They heat up on their own. I have no idea how. It must be some super advanced Japanese technology that the Americans haven't figured out yet...  

We haven't opened the choccie bananas yet. I've yet to eat an Asian sweet that wasn't nasteeeee. I am prepared to eat my own words though, along with the candy!

Most Fought Over Gift Award:

This prezzie from my twin bro over in England is a big hit with both boys. It's every little boy's dream, and although there are two tracks in the one toy they still can't help but play tug-o-war (instead of cars) with this nifty Hot Wheels garage.

Lucky for us Santa stuffed them a Hot Wheels car a piece in their stockings, so they don't have to fight over the one vehicle that came with it!

Momma had the most fun constructing it in bed with Little Miss D this morning - a great excuse to stay snuggled in bed on what was probably the coldest morning of the year so far.

We probably should have built it before we let the kids open it (rookie error). But what else is Boxing Day for? Their eyes almost popped out of their heads when I brought my morning's handiwork out to the living room.

"MINE!"

Eventually it was too much fun, and after saying 'share' for the umpteenth time I finally followed through on my (not-such-an) empty threat and confiscated it until further notice, earning us the heart-achingly cute wailing entreaty from my 23 month old:

"Momma take it away, Daddeeee! Momma take awayyyy...."

8 hours on and all three boys are using the garage to launch Hot Wheels across the cabin floor. Good times!

Best Novelty Gift Award:

How does my ass look?

The winner of the best novelty (and most impractical) gift award goes to our Texan BIL and SIL. Continuing with the theme of welded metal characters (following last year's Chili guitarist), this delightful little donkey was bestowed upon me and the hubs. I'm not sure if they were going for the Christmas Donkey theme - but we're calling her Dominique none the less!

I can't wait to chain her to the deck roofing too, out of reach of little exploratory fingers!

Too cool.

No one can have enough welded metal characters hanging down from their deck roofing!

Take notes friends and family. We are NOT difficult to buy for. If in doubt a metal armadillo will fit in around here nicely!

I can't believe it's all over for another 364 days. Oh, wait - we've still got one more family gift exchange to go. We get to do it all over again this weekend, and I can't wait!

In all seriousness thank you everyone for all the gifts and cards and thoughts and love you've given us!

It's not ALL about the prezzies really (unless of course you're 2 and 3)! But even though they might not know it yet, my kids had the most fun with their cousins and Aunties and Uncles and Grandparents and surrogate Grandparents yesterday. And I had the most fun watching them.

Christmas is ALL about the children...    

and the prezzies....

Oh, and don't forget Baby Jesus.