Eve and Day

Around here we have our big meal on Christmas Eve. How else can I ensure that at least part of my Christmas day is relaxing and enjoyable? We were all on our own this year, with no one coming over or that we needed to visit, and I really liked it. I mean, I missed family, but it was just so nice. 

 The dinner was delicious, if I do say so myself. :) I roasted two chickens (since we all prefer chicken over turkey), made gluten free stuffing, candied yams, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, gravy, cranberry… You know, the typical stuff. We fancied up the table a bit and made sure that everyone dressed a little more nicely (see previous post about trying to make things seem more special), but then we ended up eating off of paper plates because I forgot to run the dishwasher earlier in the day. Oops. Oh, well. It was special anyway.

As my regular readers may remember (are there any of you left? Hello?), our Christmas day traditions are my absolute favorite. Sleeping in, making sure everyone is bathed and rooms and house are clean before we get going. So awesome. A new-ish friend on Facebook was shocked that we make our kids wait so long to open gifts and stuff, but it's wonderful. It prolongs the day, making it much more meaningful. It teaches our kids that it's not all about the presents we're getting. It's about love, and togetherness, non-material gifts we've been given and, of course, SLEEP! Ha!

The weather has been so weirdly warm for all of December, making it hard to believe that Christmas was almost upon us. But then we woke up to this on Christmas morning!

What a fantastic Christmas surprise! It made a lovely backdrop for our traditional bran muffin and cheesy scrambled egg breakfast. Here we are finally sitting down to eat at 9:20:

I love my family. There is just so much joy and love at that table. You can see it.

After the dishes were done and the floor was swept, it was time to do the lineup.

I also snapped a quick "before" photo of what was waiting for them. I love how Santa can make even underwear and socks seem fun with cute wrapping paper. :)

Rophone let the kids in one-by-one so they could locate their stockings and I could capture individual reactions. I expected Edith's reaction to be huge when she saw the ginormous dollhouse brought by Santa…

But, yeah. No. She just stood there looking at it. I think she wasn't sure it was really hers. Her most excited reactions? Over the small things Santa brought-- underwear, socks, a Hot Wheel and a toothbrush. 

The orange, though?

Well, it was a bit of a bust. Ha!

As I was snapping photos of Edith, I was simultaneously taking photos of all the other kids as they came in and found their loot (there is really only about 5 seconds between their entrances). I took this one of Big, but clearly the needed blood sugar boost from breakfast hadn't kicked in yet. We'll get back to him. Looking festive, though, Big!

So, here's Bud..

…followed by Ginger (she's #1, apparently)..

…and then Pen.

Big's still looking dazed. We'll give him another minute.

He'll perk up eventually. Let's take a look at some other photos of what was going on.

Hey, it looks like Big is back!

Just a few more pictures of the festivities, and then we'll be done. The way we take turns and make sure to appreciate what each person received takes a while (and it's awesome!), but I'll try to speed up the process here. 

Bud, so excited to receive "plastic utensils". The Entertaining variety, no less.

Pretty excited that the box contained some pants, instead.

After Bud opened his box, I joked with the kids that one of these days I would surprise them and they would really get what the box indicated, rather than just being repurposed to hold something else. And then Ginger opened this…

And she knows these pictures are going on the blog…

Excitement over the new thermos, and oh so much relief that the "day" was not today. Thermos > tampons at Christmas. 

Infinity scarf disguised as cereal..

Rophone received a bunch of guitar accessories from my sister. 

Made him go "ooooh". That is a huge reaction from him. Way to go, Opera.

Hey, look! Lest you think I missed out on all of the fun, Rophone took some pictures of me!

This card Rophone and I got from Ginger is one of my favorite gifts ever. It's so her.

We all got some things we needed (so excited about my egg poacher!), clothes to wear, some books to read, and a few fun things for no reason. Sounds just about perfect. Ginger's new shirt with a unicorn pooping cupcakes? Icing on our Christmas cupcake!

Definitely perfect.

The rest of the day was spent doing a bunch of things, spurred on by leftovers. Not having to cook lunch or dinner on Christmas day is so awesome. 

Big was super excited to finally have snow to shovel, so after we ate a little food we headed outside to do just that. 

The girls headed out together to do a Christmas photo shoot with their new phones and I snapped this of the two of them as they were on their way. Aren't my teens gorgeous?

I decided to use some of the snow from the driveway to begin to construct a sledding hill in the front yard. The ability for the kids to sled without me having to take them anywhere is so priceless. 

After some time outside (it was really cold!!) we continued to party inside. We read our books, played some games, and just relaxed. So, so nice. The boys were super excited to get Battleship. Such an awesome Christmas gift for them to share.

What a great Christmas! I just wish I could capture the magic of it all and save it. I guess this blog post will have to do. Merry Christmas, family! I love you!