It's my claim to fame.
And the people that I spend Christmas Day with.
It starts late on Christmas Eve. We arrive at my parents in the still of the night. And go to sleep dreaming of what Santa will bring us.
We awake with the kids very early in the morning.
And our Christmas traditions begin.
We start by lining up in order of age. (Which gives me and Kev a napping time of one hour seeing as we are the oldest)
We enter in to "Santa's room". The room where Santa leaves all of his surprises. And one by one find our gifts. Get our picture taken. Get our excited expressions filmed. Then run out and show off our gift to the rest of the family.
Usually a fight ensues. Over who got the best gift.
That is a normal part of being a family. Right?
Then we take our seats. Kev, Bethany, and I have sat on the same couch together for as long as I can remember. Every one gets a laundry basket to put their gifts in. And then the stocking hand out begins.
Dad is in charge of the stockings and gifts. He gives them out in order of age. ( Once again, I get a chance to nap) We get our pictures taken with our stockings. And then we are filmed.
We scream. We yell. We laugh. And we open every thing in our stockings and place them in our baskets.
Up next... Breakfast. We dine on pumpkin bread, breakfast casserole, fruit, juice, and croissants.
We burp. We spill our drinks. We tell jokes.
We are a hyper bunch. And a little rowdy. And we love Christmas celebrating.
Then we re group back in our seats around the Christmas tree. And Dad begins the handing out of gifts.
We used to savor it. Take our time. Open gifts one at a time. But due to the impatientness of kids, it has become a frantic rush of opening presents. It seems to be over in the blink of an eye.
And then exhausted from all of the festivities, every one takes a nap. Except for my parents who are getting Christmas dinner ready.
We eat a delicious Christmas dinner complete with the good china and fancy table cloth.
And then the day is done. The holiday that we have been waiting for all year. In a matter of seconds.
But it was a great day!! A day full of wonderful memories and incredible family time. And once again my Mom went all out to ensure a fabulous Christmas day.
And unfortunately, I have NO pictures to show you any of this. Except for this one.....
Princess ( my Mom's dog) got a Minnie princess hat and shirt. So, of course, we had to dress her up and take a pic. Kiara got jealous and had to jump in the picture at the last minute. Too cute!!
Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling well. Because of a multitude of reasons. One being lack of sleep. So, we left early because I had to work the next morning. And I vowed then and there that one of my New Year's resolutions was going to be to savor the holidays in 2010. To be more organized. To get more sleep. To have more family time.
Because these moments are priceless. And important. And fun.
But ultimately I had a wonderful Christmas. Especially because every one of my family members was in The States. And not in some ridiculous country that they were foreign to.
I am looking forward to an AMAZING 2010!!
No comments:
Post a Comment