We were in Canada for Christmas Day… and it snowed! 

My nephew Braden made a snowman… and about a million snowballs.

Emma wanted to join in the snowball fight, so I made her a small snowball.

Guess what showed up in our Free Christmas celebration?  The Yellow Star!  We haven't see it since it stowed away in an M-n-M's bag on the Larson's mission trip to Ecuador this summer.  Grandma has it now… wonder where it will show up next.

The Harry and David 12 Days of Christmas goody boxes arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house and we enjoyed them very much!  Thanks!

Dear Toy Manufacturers,

I promise not to…

1.  Let my kids roam the halls of toys stores and take toys out of the boxes to play with while in the store

2.  Not let my kids steal toys (or even just small parts) out of the boxes at stores*

If you promise to…

1.  Not make me get out my screwdriver, scissors, wire cutter and box cutter just to get toys out of the box

2.  Not to use dangerous items like lead paint and tiny choking hazard/swallow-able magnets in the toys

If we each do our part, maybe every parents Christmas morning won’t have to be spent hunched over toy boxes with a variety of tools trying to boost the toys from their boxes.

Thank you!

Laughing Mommy

P.S.  As a teenager I used to work in a toy department of a large department store and I do understand how huge of a problem it is when kids are allowed to play with toys (take them out of boxes) while in the store.  If those toys get separated from their box sometimes we could not figure out which small plastic items went with which toy… leading to that toy not being sold and the store losing money, of course.  I’m sure that is the reason behind each toy being practically Gorilla glued in its box these days.