A Magical Christmas Surprise

We have an attic.  A third floor with a little dormer window and slanted ceilings that you have to access through a closet, up some rickety stairs and up a little ladder.  Since we bought the house, it has been unusable…..no flooring, either freezing or boiling…..covered with nails and fiberglass insulation. 
When I first saw this space when we were looking for a house to buy I was sold (that and the woodwork in the living room).  The idea of what this space could be for little kids was dreamy to me and made me totally overlook the fact that the foundation on the house crooked and cracked and the floors are all slanted…..I know, it was irrational….but as a kid I would have died to have a secret little play space in an attic with sloped ceilings…..a space that’s hard for big people to get to, but perfect for little people. 
So, I’ve been dreaming of having this place finished for 4 years now.  And, way too late in the game for Jeff to feel comfortable with it, I decided that this year was the year.  After seeing that I wasn’t going to give up this dream, Jeff jumped in and we scrambled and worked and stressed and with some serious help from Santa got it all done. 
And this is what it looked like (for a few hours until we discovered it on Christmas morning and the kids made a royal mess of it in playful glee).

  (pictures courtesy of Santa…..he came and put in the carpet, sprayed in the magical peppermint insulation…and put all the toys up there on Christmas eve night…and was even thoughtful enough to take pictures and email them to me!)

Our kids didn’t even know it existed.  Can you imagine waking up on Christmas morning to find that you have a whole new part of your house?  A magical, hidden toy room? 
It was everything I wished for, and more than they could have dreamed up. 
There is something purely gratifying as a parent to see your kids so enraptured by the magic of Christmas and childhood.

Click here to see the surprise in action (pardon our messy christmas morning home)