Christmas

This was a great Christmas...the very kind of Christmas that I have envisioned since becoming a mom. The kids were too young or too few before. I loved those Christmases for other reasons. This Christmas, however, was exactly my idea of what Christmas would be like at this stage. And it was lovely.

The kids let us sleep in until 7am. They gathered in one bedroom together with a clock and counted down the minutes. I'm not sure exactly when they first woke up, but they knew to wait until at least 7am.

We mostly opened presents one at a time. Not too many, not too few. Alice and Robert were old enough to wait their turn, James could barely be reigned in, and Matthew was so happy playing with  the first gift that he didn't even think about the others.

There were some activities the kids got excited about right away (treats, flashy gifts) and some that were slow burners: family games, toys and puzzles to assemble, activities to plan.

We played and moved and ate and played and tried new stuff and played some more until I looked up and it was 2:30pm. I was still in my pajamas! I didn't have to be "on duty" at all that whole morning. I just got to play with people I love! Blissful.

Everything fell apart right about then. It typically does that time of day. We pulled it out of the fire, though, just in time for Bill and his family to join us for dinner. I missed Kristin a lot (get well soon!).

The day after Christmas is usually the most depressing day of the year for me. We had the Pack family over for dinner to keep our spirits up, and that worked well, especially since they contributed roasted crucifers and a game to the evening's activities. We tasted a few new sodas, too, which is always fun with friends. The Butter Cake soda was surprisingly delicious and the Fungal Fruit (pink passion fruit lime) was a bitter disappointment.

The day after the day after Christmas is usually pretty depressing for me, too, but we have play dates set up and family coming to town (yay!). In fact, it appears we are poised to have the best Christmas and Christmas Break in the history of our family (just celebrated 16 years last week!). Not a bad way to say goodbye to 2017.