Christmas Day

When I was little, my brother and I got to open 1 present each on Christmas Eve after we had been to the evening Children’s mass at church. We weren’t allowed to open presents until mom and dad woke up, so we’d go in to wake them up and let them know Santa had come to our house! We don’t have any real traditions set in our house yet. There’s so many I want to do, but if I put too many into practice, I feel like I’d be taking a lot of the fun of the day away.

For now here’s how things happen: First we let the kids open 1 present on Christmas Eve, we put out cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer, read Christmas stories to the kids and put them to bed. Christmas morning we eat something small so we can get to opening the presents. This year we had yogurt and bananas for breakfast. This worked out so that we could start opening presents while we ate! We clean up the mess that happens with Christmas presents. Get ourselves cleaned up and get ready for dinner with our parents. That’s how it’s gone the past few years. I enjoy it. I still want to have a few more traditions. Maybe reading about the birth of Christ from Luke. Having hot chocolate the night before. Or having a certain “Christmas breakfast” so we look forward to it each year. We’ve been wanting to have pancakes and maybe eggs as our “breakfast”, but I haven’t been able to find a way to get it made before the kids explode from excitement of wanting to open their presents. I did do something this year that I may want to continue. I hung the stockings on the tree on Christmas Eve (we have a curved mantle over the fireplace which isn’t ideal to hang stockings) so that Santa could put them by the fireplace on his way back up the chimney. Perhaps he was in a hurry this year because the stockings got left by the front door. I’ll try again next year and hope he remembers… by the fireplace Santa! By the fireplace…

Shyla loves to dress up. Did I say love? That probably isn’t the best word. Obsessed? No, that’s not even right. She’d live in her dress up clothes if I let her. My parents got her a dress up rock star box of clothes. Shyla started singing “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar. It was so funny! Jacob wanted to get in on the action too. I’d never be able to find the words to describe the cuteness that came next, so enjoy what only a picture can share…Jacob got some warm footie jammies from Candy Grandma. I love footie jammies. Actually, love isn’t the best word to use here either. I wouldn’t live in footie jammies if I had them, but I would like to let my kids live in them! :) Jacob loved them and so did I!Before a yummy dinner the ladies played cards (hard to see Shyla, but she’s next to grandma Dottie) and the men watched sports. That’s how it’s supposed to work, right? After some mingling it was time for dinner. Grandma Dottie brought some great tasting ham and Candy Grandma brought a delicious jello salad. There was too much food to list it all, but everyone got leftovers to take home. After dinner we got to give our moms a present I had been working on for a long time… crocheted blankets! Candy Grandmas got finished in time. The one for my mom took me a little longer. I gave it to her anyway even though I wasn’t quite done. The edging is the same as Candy’s. I hate to toot my own horn, okay, I don’t hate doing it, I’ll do it because I want to… both blankets suit the mom’s just perfect! We got my dad some wiper blades for his car. He’s always worrying about our vehicles and making sure maintenance is completed on them, etc. But when it comes to his own vehicle, some things can get overlooked. We borrowed his car a year or two ago and were driving in fog/mist. What did his wipers do? SMEARED the water on the windshield! I told him he needed new wiper blades. He said he’s never replaced them. Oh dad. Someone has to take care of it if he won’t, right? I did what any loving daughter would do and bought them for him. To end the evening we took some family photos. A nice one of Jake, his mom, and the kiddos. A pretty good one with me, my parents, and the kiddos, though Jacob wasn’t too happy anymore. And then one of us and the kiddos. We’re all saying “cheese”. It’s the new thing we have to do to make Jacob smile during a photo when he’s not interested in being there. The picture below that one shows how the photo session really went down. Overall a great day and I loved getting to spend time with both of our parents. The kids are just ecstatic whenever any of them are around. Fun, family, and remembering Christ and what He means and what He has done for our lives is really what Christmas is about!