December 25, 2008. San Antonio, Tx. Some Assembly Required.

Last night this household had no items that required assembly. Suzanne and I were proud of ourselves, when we realized after the children were in bed and our evening was complete, other than put out the gifts under the tree. Today, Ken and Abigail assembled two American Girl beds, but that was in the middle of the day today. In times past, every parent has spent many hours trying to put these toys together, to be ready for Christmas morning. Once we spent hours trying to inflate a type of trampoline, built of a tractor tube covered by cotton fabric. We were at Dave and Irene's home in Ancaster, and after the boys were in bed we expected to take twenty minutes to pump up this darn tube. The bicycle tire pump was clearly not up to the job, so when Kenny came home he produced a foot pump which helped a bit. Two hours later, while we were still taking turns on the foot pump, we decided to ask for help from a neighbor who has lots and lots of tools. By now it is almost 1:00a.m. I do not know how this jumping toy every got together, but I do know that I decided to only buy toys that were all put together. The worst thing about that object for the boys was that the jumping toy never did bounce properly, so it was a huge effort for a very badly designed toy. But we all still laugh about it.

Our day was low keyed and quiet. The girls played with their gifts all day. Later this afternoon Samantha asked if I would come outside to watch her ride her bicycle. She was still using training wheels, but her bike would not work properly, so we both came to ask Ken to remove her training wheels, which he did. Now, Allison of course could not be left behind, so Ken removed her training wheels from her bicycle too. David came out front to help them both, and when I came out ten minutes later, they were both riding like champs. It was an amazing thing to see. The timing was perfect. For the rest of the evening, they rode the circle at the end of the cul-de-sac. They must have taken several hundred circles, beaming all the way. They were thrilled. At dinner tonight, each of us told something that we liked best about the day, and both twins told about riding a two wheeled bike. It was exciting to watch their enthusiasm and excitement. Now we go to the Ranch tomorrow, where they will be able to ride all day.