Hi! We are still in a video game and cookie-induced stupor. Throw about a trillion hours (estimated, but probably accurate) of Lego building in there and you've got our weekend. The neighborhood kids are starting to venture out from under the Christmas tree, but when they knocked on our door today, we said we weren't ready to play yet. A family day. For the record, the kids were ready, the parents weren't. Also, we were still hanging out in our pj's at 2:00 in the afternoon, and our house still very much looks like we just opened our presents. So while I find places for our new 'stuff' (and good stuff it is), let me share with you a little bit.
Here's our new book stack!

We try and get the kids a new book each Christmas. This year they ended up with two each (the handmade thing did NOT happen for me and I had to be okay with that).
For some reason, it was hard to find cool books for them this year. And then we had family asking for book recommendations and we didn't know what to tell them.
This is most explainable for the girl. She has two large bookcases crammed full of books, most of which she's read multiple times. She checks out 15-20-ish books every week from the library and has them read in just a couple of days. No lie. It's HARD to find things she hasn't read.
So, after a lot of amazon searching (by me, Aaron, and my mom), we came up with these (click on the book cover to see the book on amazon):
For the girl (10):


I knew she'd been waiting to read the new Rick Riordan book, but the library never had it. Sadly, she finished it Christmas day. Book of a Thousand days she's read more than once, but she had just re-read it from the library and was saying how she needed her own copy (and it was cheap on amazon).
And from Grandma (Grandpa is implied):

Also from Grandma: the gift tag said it was for our family, but I suspect it's really aimed at the girl, without looking like they gave her an extra gift:

For Thomas (8):

Ugh. The Pokemon is a bit embarassing, but it's a pretty cool, big hardcover look-and-find book that all the kids loved when they checked it out from the library. He is such a reader now, but he has like 30 Magic Tree House books already. And he DEVOURS Calvin & Hobbes. I often find him curled up with my COMPLETE set on my bed and don't have the heart to take it away (but they're my nice books!) We have lots of paperback Calvins, though, and he loves all of them. And many are in various stages of decay after so much reading.
Grandma was smarter, though, and I think she found just the right thing:

For the Monkey (5):


The kid LOVES Mouseguard and already has the first two books (and a plush Lieam toy). Owly is a new-to-us series. Owly is a graphic novel as well (all my kids love graphic novels) with virtually no words. Monkey is a reader now, but we thought he'd get a kick out of the cute owl. He LOVES anything cute.
From Grandma:

She is the one who made him his sock monkey a few years ago. Appropriate!
My little brother gave us this adorable book. I hadn't heard of it but am excited to read it. And I think EVERYONE will love it.
He also recommended this book to my mom, who got it for us (and the movie). It's our new bedtime chapter book read-aloud.

As for me, I got a couple of new Penguin Classics hardcovers. SO PRETTY! I got these for my mom as well. That might be how Aaron knew to get me some. I may have hinted/drooled.

(Click to look at all of them - they're GORGEOUS)
And a gift from Aaron and I to our whole family:
We're hoping to raise the bar on our family scripture study (also by using this program).

On Christmas Eve afternoon, Aaron spend another hour or two on amazon searching for books for the girl. He'd call out titles and she'd yell back 'Read it!' or 'Nope!'. He ended up with... 63? titles for her to check out.
So that's good... for this month. ;)
What about you? Did you get any awesome books this Christmas?