A Coal Christmas

So the number one question I have been getting is, "How did Christmas go?  Did you really go through with it?" 

Short story: Yes, we went through with it.

Long story:
On Christmas Eve, the kids left treats for Santa.

They also left a letter, with Kea asking for a snowboard.

On Christmas morning, my nephews received snowboards.  My kids received a letter.

Maile handled it surprisingly well even though she didn't even get a rubber apple.  (Perhaps her good mood was due to the fact that Grant had told her if she squeezed the coal hard enough, it would turn into a diamond.)

Kea, on the other hand, was really sad.  We explained how we had told Santa to donate their gifts to homeless children.  And then she was mad in addition to being sad.  So I explained how we had told Santa to make a donation to The Road Home in their names, and this donation would help buy things for children who didn't have a home.  After that, she responded, "Okay, I'm fine with that.  You just didn't tell me how homeless they were at first."  Apparently there are different degrees of homelessness. 

So both of them had a great Christmas.  Grant and I did buy them some books, and they received plenty of gifts from everyone else.  In addition, they received a lot of money which they used when we hit the after-Christmas sales.  And because of the sales, they ended up with almost double the presents they receive normally. 

Both of them agreed it was the best Christmas ever.  Hope you all had a Happy Holidays!