This year the Christmas holiday was longer than usual, since Christmas Day fell on a Sunday. We did the usual traditions, and not so usual traditions (I had a certain male procedure done on the 22nd). So, I was off from Thursday to Tuesday without much to do but hang out and spend time with the family and kids.
We went to Christmas Eve "Mess" at 3 and then can back to our house for our traditional fondue dinner. My parents joined us and watched us open our pajamas. After they left we watched Elf and then went to bed.
We didn't buy the kids many presents. They get plenty of presents from everyone else in the family. However, we did give them two presents and went with a technology theme. As much as I don't like the idea of giving them these types of gifts, it's inevitable and they are a part of life today...so we might as well start getting them used to them so that they can be properly managed. Plus, they are fun.
They were both given a kids "smart watch" they had been wanting. It's a just digital watch with a touch screen and small games like tic-tac-toe, fitness apps, and the ability to take low quality pictures, videos, and voice memos. Things like that. The bigger present was that we also gave them our old iPhones. We got new phones months ago but I kept the old ones to give to them for Christmas. Now they don't need to use our phones for games! The phones aren't connected to cell service, so they are basically like iPod touches. They can use wifi for some things, but otherwise have been locked down and only use limited functions. It's fun to get a text message from them while at work. They don't know the passcode to unlock the phones, so that's another way we can control usage. We'll see how it goes. For now they are having a lot of fun with their new big kid toys.
At the end of the video there are a couple clips of a fun little game for Jonathan. The strings are supposed to imitate laser sensors, and every time a player touches a string the countdown timer loses 20 seconds. The goal is to collect all the required cards/items and disarm the bomb before the time runs out!