Christmas Eve

After the fun and games we went home to make cookies for Santa.

This Christmas we did something different that turned out to be a huge success.  Remember all the fighting and whining?  After Thanksgiving I knew we needed something to curb the negative behavior.  I also wanted to find a way for the kids to enjoy the spirit of giving, rather than wanting and me! me! me!

I made out a weekly chart where each child had seven dollars, one for each day.  I explained that they could earn a dollar a day until Christmas and then they could use that money to buy a gift for whatever sibling they drew. However, if they were naughty or rude, they would lose the dollar for the day. Or, in Riley's case, if you were incredibly defiant and crazy, you could lose many dollars in one day.

Also, if I caught you doing something nice or you were helpful or did an extra job around the house, you could earn money, one quarter at a time.  It worked quite well.  After the first two weeks Riley had earned a minimal amount and we had a discussion about being able to buy a good gift for your person.  Like, how would you feel if the person who has your name was really naughty and only spent two dollars on you?   She still ended up with the least amount of money, but she got Macie a very generous gift by also using her birthday money, which humbled me and made me very proud. .

 

We opened our hard-earned sibling gifts on Christmas Eve so we could really appreciate them :)

Macie got Charlotte a Dream Light. 

Charlotte got Carver a race car that does a wheelie.

Riley got Macie a little sister necklace, fake fingernails, and a lava lamp. 

Carver got Riley a bunch of mechanical pencils and an art book.

Charlotte had earned the most so she went to the dollar store and got everyone another gift. 

I was so proud of them!  Riley could have only used her earned money and gotten Macie something small, but she really wanted to get her what she had asked for.  Charlotte could have kept her extra money, but she wanted to give to everyone.

They all got what they wanted, but they were most happy about giving their person what they wanted. 

We also opened and put on our new Christmas jammies.  I blanked on getting a picture of them all together, dang it.  Then we turned on the Christmas tree lights and watched Elf until bedtime. 

 

The past two years we've done a secret Santa for a family in need and dropped presents on thier doorstep Christmas Eve, but I heard another person was doing it so I decided we would do the twelve days of Christmas for another family instead. I hoped it would make a bigger impact because the kids could be more involved in dropping off the little gifts and it would last twelve times longer :) For twelve days we dropped a little gift that cooresponded with a Christmas story off on their door step.  Riley was the designated runner, but we all had fun watching and waiting for them to answer the door and find the gift. 

So yeah.  Not to brag, but after eight years of Christmas with children I think we are finally figuring it out.