Photo from DeviantArt
Christmas is over and the chaos is behind us. It seems so passe to say it because almost everyone says that Christmas is their favorite time of year but count me among the masses, I love it! It’s a crazy month for me, I am part owner of a popular Ecommerce company and we do an insane amount of business during the month of December so it keeps me really busy. It’s really tough to stay in the spirit and do all the family stuff, all the work stuff, the blogging and still remain happy and festive, but somehow, I do manage it. I think I would be crushed if any Christmas passed me by without taking the time to be with family and enjoy our traditions so no matter how hectic it becomes, it is one of those things I will always make time for.
Now that Christmas is passed and we are approaching the New Year, I thought it would be fun to list the wonderful things I got this year.
Under the Tree!
Kodak Zx3 Digital Video Camera
I Love this digital video camera! It’s an economical choice for families, it’s only $149 and takes really great video at up to 1080p. There are a few choices in the $100 – $150 range for small digital video cameras but my wife picked this one because it’s waterproof. We spend a lot of time at my mother-in-laws pool during the summer and I can’t wait to get some underwater footage of the kids. I am excited to start using this to both capture family moments and to add a new dimension to KidsAintCheap! I will be doing a review on it in a future post
Craft Beer!
That’s right, my wife knows what I like and really enjoy craft beer. It’s my parental aid of choice 🙂 When unwinding after a stressful day, there is nothing like a quality beer. My wife has gotten pretty good at picking out what I would like. She travels a lot for work and a few of the places she travels to have some great beer stores that carry nothing but craft beer. She got me an excellent selection this year.
Homebrew Equipment and Books
In addition to enjoying craft beer, I also enjoy making my own beer. My family got some excellent suggestions from my wife and got me a few new books and some equipment that will hopefully improve the quality of my brew.
Restaurant Gift Certificates
As I mention on the about us page of this site, we are in signficant debt and live on a very strict and limited budget. We do without most luxuries which includes going out to dinner. We love to eat good food but in the last two years, we could very rarely afford it. This year we were grateful and happy to get gift certificates (enough to cover the entire meal) to one of our favorite local restaurants.
With Our Powers Combined, we are Platypus!
I am a big fan of Snorgtees.com, they have some really hilarious t-shirts and I am a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. I have only ever used the site to buy gifts for other people because as I mentioned, we are broke and do without things we don’t need. However, one of my favorite tees is this one and my wife bought it for me. She spent more than we budgeted but I can’t complain too much!
I also got a bunch of smaller items and some much needed clothing but that is a good synopsis of the physical gifts I was most excited about from my wife, my parents and the rest of my family. As much as I loved all of those things, they don’t come close to the best gift I got this year.
Not under the Tree
The greatest gift I got this year was not physical and many people wouldn’t even define it as a gift but those people are wrong. The greatest gift I got this year was seeing the unbridled joy, happiness and excitement on my children’s faces all weekend long. This was the greatest Christmas morning I have ever had, to see them so enthusiastically embrace the idea of Santa Claus and the excitement in their eyes when they saw the pile of treasure they received was just priceless. I hope to have many more Christmas’s like this with my family but I know this unbridled youthful joy won’t last forever so I intend to savor every minute of it.
Brian
P.S. For those interested, here is a video I shot the day after Christmas in the freezing cold at a local park. It’s my two boys riding their brand new bikes. I shot the video with my new Kodak Zx3!
What did you get for Christmas this year?
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