Christmas comes 4 times a year for us....

Yes, Christmas comes 4 times a year for us but it's all crammed into the week of Christmas.  Not as much fun as you thought, huh?  Both my husband's parents and mine are divorced so my kiddos have 4 sets of grandparents.  Can you hear the tensions start to rise?  But this past Saturday we had Christmas at my father in-law's and it was really a nice time.  No cousins fighting, no sister/brother in-law squabbles.  It was truly a great time.  The kids racked up on all sorts of good toys and hubby and I got some cool stuff too.  My fave is the canvas tote that my husband's stepmom embroidered for me...it says PLASTIC BLOWS.  This is in honor of my reuseablebags.com sticker that is on my back windshield. :)
My 8 year old daughter got the coolest present from them though!  She got the Designed By You  Fashion Studio from Creativity for Kids.  It is such an amazing present for a girl her age.  When I was her age I dreamed of being a fashion designer and I doodeled creations all the time.  She does the same thing but now with her super-cool gift from Gran she gets to actually design it,measure it,  fit to the body form (!), sew  and everything in between! She has been playing with it non stop.  I would reccommend this for any kid who enjoys creating anything.  My almost 11 year old son came out sporting a leapord print Tarzan-esque loin cloth that she made for him and my poor 3 year old son got the luck of the draw by being the "model" for a black A-line skirt.  Hilarious to me now...not so much when they remember it when they're 25 and try to make me pay for therapy.
Definitely check out the site. http://www.creativityforkids.com/
  I actually looked at it later to see what good stuff they have for boys and they have such an array of things.  I know that some parents find it intimidating to drag out all the crafty stuff for fear that their house will be a mess for a good 3 hours.....well, it will but look at the kids and how much they are learning about themselves and boosting their confidence and imagination. 
Merry Christmas everyone!