3 Weeks to Christmas...by Thomas

... and we are already getting ready!!!

Kim has started to get xmas decorations, and we are getting the tree this weekend. We will decorate every single room of the house... This will be our 3rd Xmas together.

After two xmas' of telling the kids, Santa would NOT bring any Ipod, or PSP, or any other toy of the month, we have decided to get one of those high-tech systems... the Nintendo wii!! lots of family fun in perspective. However, before getting to play with it, little cheese will have to use a bit of his brain (unfortunately pickle's has been deserving coal this year, so he will not be allowed to play with it for a while - he should feel lucky not to be in France were it's Père Fouettard).

To bring a bit of fun, since we won't be able to bring them to NYC, we decided to make a treasure hunt... Afterall, after begging us for so long for a cool present, they will have to work for it. Not that it is a hard hunt... I have been writing the clues and my English isn't that great yet. So lets see if you can get gold...

Let's start with the enveloppe Santa left under the tree

Let's start easy, you all guessed we have to go to the shower... not sure why Santa had to go there, but well, maybe he spilled some milk over him??? There you find a second envelope

At least, he is nice, he is washing his dishes... No need to explain this one, you all get it... Now the next clue.
Ha... for the ones not knowing ticky yet, he is our little dog, and there is noooo way to get peace with that little monster, especially if you are eating something... Best place to get a rest, the futon in the sitting room with view on the lake... and the next step in our treasure hunt...

Late breaking news
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Okay now blogger is to blame for the rest not being done...it won't allow Thomas to add the other clues....this draft has been sitting, and I wanted you to see it, even if it was not complete...so there you have a little part of what the kids will see, a little view of how wonderfully magnificent that frog really is:) pooo pooo to blogger for not allowing him to finish and add the other clues....

BUT we have now discovered we have an even bigger problem here!!!!

The only gift we were planning on giving both boys is the Nintendo Wii....and it is impossible to get.

2 weeks ago we saw it on walmart with a game bundle (8 games) for $650 or something, and I would/could not allow him to buy it..I have never spent that much on one present and felt too guilty for him spending his money. As it was, I was having a hard time letting him buy the system for $250 and one game for $50, so I said we should just wait and he should not spend that much. Then last week we saw it on E-B games for about the same price and when he was trying to order it, could not because he would be using a canadian visa/debit, but shipping to USA, and that was forbidden, as it was also forbidden for him to ship the system to canada..so again..I thought, don't worry, we'll find just the system and 1 game, without a problem...(HA, the universe says...we'll teach you for being so optimistic!)

Yesterday, I talked the frog off the ledge that he was about to jump off of...you know that ledge that these fricken toy makers make...the ledge where normal everyday people who want their kid's to have the item they are wishing for, have to stand on...and jump recklessly..that ledge yesterday was called the EBAY ledge...for 1 game and the system...$550....No way, don't do it...well I talked him down...my kids will be fine without it...I refuse to let these monster's who are destroying the name of Christmas win..we will do the treasure hunt, even if we cannot find a Wii...and they will find a picture..and will just have to wait till they get them in the store....frustrating...but it will be just fine!

A friend who went to the Nintendo store in NYC, a kid who was blatently honest with her said...as soon as a shipment comes in..all the employee's call their friends and family and they come in and buy the systems and then put them on E-BAY. The guy at E-B games told us to look on ebay, that is where all the systems are...well that just plain sucks! The spirit of Christmas just gets more and more lost every year. All for the love of money! Pathetic!

If anyone knows where to get a wii, please pass it on:) HA

I have my parents looking in Hawaii on their vacation and when they get back to chicago they can look too, but I highly doubt anyone will find it! It sooo should not be this way, it's Christmas for godsake!