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It's official!
Dec. 26th, 2007 10:15 pmRob starts his new job at Ultimate Electronics in Burnsville on January 2.
Dec. 26th, 2007
Best. Christmas. EVAH.
Dec. 26th, 2007 10:40 pmChristmas was lovely. It snowed, making everything picture-pretty. We went to gatherings at my sister's on Christmas Eve, and to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
minnehahas' and to Rob's brother's on Christmas day.
I didn't say anything about this before because we were keeping it a surprise from the girls. My workplace surprised me two days before Christmas with an extra year end bonus because the firm had done so well this year. Extremely generous, running into four figures. Enough to put off the worries about the money running out for months, even if Rob didn't get this job. I started thinking: all signs pointed to Rob actually getting a job, and together with the bonus, our money problems looked to be at an end. The girls have been so angelic, and so patient during this difficult time while Rob was job hunting, pitching in around the house, helping clean the dojo, going without (new clothes, meals eaten out, etc.,) with nary a complaint. Why not do something really big and unexpected for them for Christmas?
And so we did.
On Christmas morning, after stockings, we had our special traditional breakfast. After we'd opened all the presents, we asked the girls whether they thought that it had been a good Christmas. "Oh, yes," they told us, delighted. "It snowed, and we got together with family, and we had our special breakfast, and we got everything we asked for." And they had. Rob and I had shopped very carefully, taking full advantage of the sales, and their Christmas requests had been very modest and reasonable.
"Well," we told them, "we're glad you think this has been a good Christmas, but we've decided to make it an extraordinary one." We handed them each an envelope and watched their faces eagerly as they opened them. I wished afterwards that I had the video camera rolling, but on second thought, perhaps it was just as well that we didn't, because the sounds of their screams of joy would have broken the camera's microphone.
In each envelope was a picture and a promise from their Mom and Dad for a new iPod classic.
They were truly stunned--Delia actually screamed so hard she eventually had to stop because she was getting dizzy. Fiona has been saving her money for a long time for one, because none of us thought we would be in a position to actually be able to buy her one. But we can for both girls now. With Rob's new job, we'll be able to get it at cost. And we'll have a lot of money left over to still pay a lot of bills.
Delia has been carrying the piece of paper around everywhere for the last two days, just because she can hardly believe it's true.
That was an awful lot of fun to do.
Over the next week, we'll be getting together a lot with my side of the family (we gather over several days between Christmas and New Year). Our Christmas season will end with our breakfast on Twelfth Night.
I hope your Christmas was anywhere as happy and blessed and perfect as ours was.
minnehahas' and to Rob's brother's on Christmas day.I didn't say anything about this before because we were keeping it a surprise from the girls. My workplace surprised me two days before Christmas with an extra year end bonus because the firm had done so well this year. Extremely generous, running into four figures. Enough to put off the worries about the money running out for months, even if Rob didn't get this job. I started thinking: all signs pointed to Rob actually getting a job, and together with the bonus, our money problems looked to be at an end. The girls have been so angelic, and so patient during this difficult time while Rob was job hunting, pitching in around the house, helping clean the dojo, going without (new clothes, meals eaten out, etc.,) with nary a complaint. Why not do something really big and unexpected for them for Christmas?
And so we did.
On Christmas morning, after stockings, we had our special traditional breakfast. After we'd opened all the presents, we asked the girls whether they thought that it had been a good Christmas. "Oh, yes," they told us, delighted. "It snowed, and we got together with family, and we had our special breakfast, and we got everything we asked for." And they had. Rob and I had shopped very carefully, taking full advantage of the sales, and their Christmas requests had been very modest and reasonable.
"Well," we told them, "we're glad you think this has been a good Christmas, but we've decided to make it an extraordinary one." We handed them each an envelope and watched their faces eagerly as they opened them. I wished afterwards that I had the video camera rolling, but on second thought, perhaps it was just as well that we didn't, because the sounds of their screams of joy would have broken the camera's microphone.
In each envelope was a picture and a promise from their Mom and Dad for a new iPod classic.
They were truly stunned--Delia actually screamed so hard she eventually had to stop because she was getting dizzy. Fiona has been saving her money for a long time for one, because none of us thought we would be in a position to actually be able to buy her one. But we can for both girls now. With Rob's new job, we'll be able to get it at cost. And we'll have a lot of money left over to still pay a lot of bills.
Delia has been carrying the piece of paper around everywhere for the last two days, just because she can hardly believe it's true.
That was an awful lot of fun to do.
Over the next week, we'll be getting together a lot with my side of the family (we gather over several days between Christmas and New Year). Our Christmas season will end with our breakfast on Twelfth Night.
I hope your Christmas was anywhere as happy and blessed and perfect as ours was.