Nephews

I have 7 brothers and sisters and 2 stepsisters. This means there are A LOT of kids in my family. Fortunately quite a few of those kids are now adults themselves so I don't have to wory about gifts for them but there are currently 10 kids aged 11 to 1 months who will be expecting gifts this Christmas. 6 are girls but I'm not talking about them today. I think I have their gifts figured out. It's the boys on my mind tonight. Not even all 4 of them, really, just the 2 older buys, ages 7 and 9.

I find older boys harder to get gifts. I have a 6 year old but since she's a fairly typical girl she's a completely different animal than these boys. I never know what to give them. This year I've decided on a boook and hand knit hat but even that is proving problematic. Will they bother reading the books? What kind of book would either of them be interested in? And in the case of the 7 year old, who's parents are very conservative, will he be allowed to read it?

I've found a book I think Ryan, the 9 yo, will enjoy. The Mysterious Benedict Society is full of smart, compassionate children who have some very entertaining adventures. I haven't found the right book for Christian yet but I have a bit of time to go. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Now, the hats. I have a few to choose from for them since hats are one of my favorite things to knit. There's that cool grey and dark turquoise skully hat, the green and orange mosaic, or the very colorful green and harvest seamed hat. I was going to knit a Spidey hat and an R2D2 hat for them but have run out of steam and just don't feel like dealing with the colorwork involved. I could do another mosaic in different colors or even another skully since those were easy enough. I just don't want to have to fuss with and try out a new hat pattern with lots of color changes and add ons. What do you think the boys should get?