A box of socks

"What's in that box?" we'd ask Lea. "A box of socks," she'd reply matter of factly. That's what we taught Lea to say about any wrapped package. During previous holidays — Christmas, birthdays, etc... — we've had a problem with Lea keeping a secret. We'd wrap something and she'd run to Daddy and say "Daddy we got you a so and so." Ug! So finally I just told her to tell everyone it was a box of socks. It was very cute, she'd say "Its a box of socks" and then lean in to whisper "But, its not really a box of socks."

I think this year's best box of socks (but it wasn't really a box of socks) came from Aunt Kaitlin. She sent a package with two Cabbage Patch dolls, one hand made by Grandma JoAnn and one store bought (but old enough to have painted on eyes and a signature on the tush), with a full box of doll clothes (also many of which where handmade by Grandma JoAnn) and a doll bed made by Grandpa Dan. All things Kaitlin played with when she was a girl. A very precious gift for us to share such a piece of family history.

Lea isn't so much moved by the nostalgia of it all, she just thinks they are super great doll with a lot of clothes and the best little bed ever!

But as Dan read Kaitlin's letter the whole family got a bit misty eyed. It was very sweet and Lea loves playing with them. We even had to pack a bag of clothes (which came with the clothes) to take the doll with us when we went to go visit Aunt Bonny after Christmas. Lea was decked out like a little mommy. It was very cute. Here is a video of Lea opening the box and Dan reading the letter on Christmas day.


Of course Lea wasn't the only one who got an unexpected awesome gift fromt the whole family! I got a wii!

What a box of socks that was!!

The family got together and got us a wii game system. I'd wanted one for more than a year. I was really appreciative that Dan got everyone together to make such an extravagant present possible. It is so much fun! We even got Grampy to play. Margarete played almost every time we did during the 10 days we were with them and had a lot of fun. Here is a video of Grampy and wii.


We all got a lot of boxes of socks (but they weren't really socks)! We got wonderful gifts all around. It would be a bit dull to catalog them all, but thank you to everyone for everything!

Here are a few highlights of some of the presents.

Grandma was surprised at what's in her box of socks.

Marvin Slippers! We found them on Craig's list! My Dad had gotten a pair for her long ago and she'd worn that pair until it had 3 inch holes in the bottom! At first, we could only find "collector's items" on ebay for like $75, but Dan found this pair on Craig's list for under $10 and with some phone calls and extra shipping we managed to really surprise mom for Christmas.


Here Grampy and Margarete model the beach robes I made for them. Mom had the idea (they match a swim suit she got Grampy for his birthday over the summer). Mom bought the material and helped me pick a pattern and I sewed at her house two weekends in a row. It was part of the handmade Christmas push. I also made throw pillows with the Morgan family crest for Dan's dad, an Elvis pillow for Teresa and several bags or items with Lea drawings on them. In all I sewed two beach robes, two scarfs, 5 pillows, 5 bags and 3 sweatshirts (just the Lea drawing patch on, not a whole sweatshirt).

Uno Moo was a big hit. Its loads of fun to play. Lea loves the skunks, which mean pick two!

Lea's Doctor kit was a huge hit. A gift from Mommy (found at an estate sale for $2.50! I love a bargain!). Lea did a checkup on anything that would stay still long enough.

This was Lea's shopping spree. Grandma JoAnn got Lea a big gift card and Daddy and Lea went shopping. They were there for 2 hours! But Lea got a lot of stuff. Including a van for her doll house family of kitties, something she had told Grandma Bubby she wanted, but no one else. She picked out the perfect one with seats for the whole family, including the two babies.


In all we were very lucky for every box of socks under the tree!