Christmas Day Busyness

I had such grand plans for our Christmas Day meals. I planned on making a fresh pie with sweet and tangy Honeycrisp apples. I planned on a making fresh bread. I planned on our family making a variety of homemade cookies for Santa. But... my plans went out the window since the kids have been sick for the last week. Thank you to Mrs. Smith for the sweet apple pie, to Field's for the pecan pie, and to Pillsbury for the golden crescent rolls and sugar cookies.

Santa left just as many crumbs on his plate as when they are homemade. We spend just as much time making memories over our dinner as we did when we made everything, but a little less time in the kitchen. Hopefully, my kids don't look back on our not-quite-homemade meal and discuss it for hours with a therapist.

Christmas Day was still wonderful. Allen's parents and grandma came Christmas Eve, so this year they got to enjoy a lot more of the Christmas morning surprises. The kids started out the morning way too early -- 5:30am. I sent them back to bed and overheard Will yelling at them that Daddy said not to get up until 6:30. Grandma Ann somehow stayed asleep through all the noise, but I stayed up to work on breakfast. The kids were back downstairs digging in their stockings an hour later.

Santa brought each of them a pretty classic book -- he does that every year, so when they leave home, they will each have a nice collection of classics to take with them. All of them got some chocolate straws, Scotch tape, card games, small Lego sets, and each of the boys also got some Ninjago Legos. Maddie's stocking was full of bracelets and hair clips and bands. She also got a matching nightgown for her and her doll. Ben got a stomp rocket;Will got a Rubic's cube, hex bug, math set (compass, protractor, and ruler), and a loop for his marble set; Jon got a Perplexus marble maze ball. Allen's stocking had a book in it that he has been wanting and some tie hangers. My stocking had a wallet, a book I wanted, and a neat how-to-draw birds book that has a lot of avian anatomy (I'm thinking I'll aim to draw more in 2013.) Santa was nice to Nana, Papa, and Grandma Ann, too!

Christmas breakfast was mostly homemade, and I ate much more than I should have. After a quick clean up of all the paper plates, we moved on to the gifts. The weather outside was stormy, and, without sunshine coming through the windows, it seemed dark. We didn't get too many great pictures, but it was a busy, loud, joyful (sometimes a bit overwhelming) morning. The kids did a great job being patient... maybe even better than I did as I tried to write down everything and get pictures. I eventually put the camera away, and decided to enjoy the morning instead.

As we have the last couple years, the six of us drew names to get some gifts. Allen and I want the kids to enjoy the fun of shopping for someone else -- finding the certain something that will make the other happy. We want them to all experience the challenge of fitting a gift to a budget, purchasing it, wrapping it, hiding it under the tree, and keeping it a secret. We want them to experience the joy of giving. Strangely, the drawing this year ended up being mapped as a circle: Daddy gave a hex bug hive and robot hex bugs to Will, who gave cozy pajama pants and wine stoppers and a filter water bottle to Mama, who gave the game Battleship to Jon, who gave Lalaloopsey dolls to Maddie, who gave a volcano learning set to Ben, who gave the game Fluxx and dice to Daddy. Unfortunately, some of the younger kids didn't keep the secrets, so not everyone was surprised.

I got a neat laptop cooling pad and pop-up desk, a great wall calendar, an awesome swimsuit cover up my sis-in-law made after I showed her a picture I liked. Allen got a set of eight different beer cups/mugs/steins/etc, a beer-of-the-month subscription, and a portable speaker. Allen and I both got a Keurig coffee maker, some gadgets for it, and lots of coffee.

Some of the things that Maddie got include a doll bed, doll clothes, a tea set, a bike helmet, a sun catcher paint set, a watch, and a Leapster game. Jon received cowboy boots, a cash register and play money, a bike helmet a watch, a toy bear, and a Leapster game. Ben got some body and brain books, cowboy boots, a bike helmet, a toy lion, a watch, dinosaur and space-shuttle Lego sets, and a Leapster game. Will jumped up and down with glee a couple times -- he received a new (bigger) bike, a Spooner board, some black cowboy boots (he cried when I made him put the others in the trash after his toes came through the front), a toy tiger, a watch with changeable bands, and a Lego simple-machines set.

After we opened everything, we rested and played games for a while, then lunch came quickly. Sadly, Ben slept right through most of our tasty meal -- ham and cherries, salad, potatoes, and rolls. He woke up from a feverish nap just before we cut the apple and pecan pies, but he did eat a quick lunch so he could have dessert with us. Nana, Papa, and Grandma Ann left soon after lunch so they could get home before the weather got worse. The rest of us napped or read, then played with new toys in front of the fireplace.

If you don't live in East Texas, you probably can't imagine the surprise and joy that we all felt when we looked outside the afternoon of Christmas and saw huge snowflakes dropping to the ground. It didn't snow at all last year, and, in the five-plus years we've lived here, it has only snowed about three times -- all of the snow melted within 24 hours. So, we got a white Christmas dusting that stuck just long enough to remind us that it is now officially winter. Dinner was not too fancy -- I may have actually thrown the bag of salad and tortillas to the table from the fridge while Will set out paper plates. It was make-your-own sandwich night after lots of cooking and cleaning and fun, but what a happy Christmas we had!!