A few kid pictures from Christmas

I love this picture ~ my favorite from Christmas this year!

Here are just a few photos from Christmas evening at the home of our daughter, son-in-law and family.  It has taken me awhile to get around to posting them, and they are just about the only photos we took on Christmas, so I thought I'd better share them.

One gift I make for the grandchildren when they are old enough (usually around age 3) is an art box, or, as many of them call it, a project box.  You can read about how I make them here:  Art Boxes.  This was Josiah's year to get one.  Of course,  he has since colored his tummy blue with marker, but he was happy to get his own art box!


 
Another gift enjoyed by young children is the puzzle kits I devised.

One of the puzzle kits we gave this year

Read about them here:  Puzzle Kits.  These involve a small puzzle, a pack of microwave popcorn and an envelope of hot cocoa mix.  This year I gave these to several of the grandchildren.  If you know the children in question can't  have popcorn for some reason, or if their family doesn't have a microwave, you can easily come up with a substitute like animal crackers, goldfish, fruit snacks, etc.

Sam's kit included a 100-piece puzzle.

Kids seem to really enjoy these.  In 2 cases this year I saw the child assemble the puzzle right after opening the gift.  And that doesn't bother me.  I actually like seeing a child take a few minutes to enjoy one gift before ripping open the next one!

Another gift we gave Josiah was this tiny battery-operated train -- bought for pennies at a Christmas clearance last year.  It took no time at all for big brother Sam to help him install the batteries we taped to the back.

Hope you have enjoyed this look at a few of our simple Christmas gifts!