I sure love the peace of a Christmas Eve night followed by the chaos that is Christmas morning! It's my favorite twelve hours of the whole year. We had a wonderful Christmas - following in step with familiar rhythms of the last few years. We're fortunate to wake up in our beds Christmas morning and have nowhere to go until Christmas night. So we try to sleep in, sip coffee slow, and drag out presents as long as possible.
This year, Cruz woke up a little after 5. Just as I was about to tell him to go back to bed (torture for a kid on Christmas morning), Beau rolled over and informed me he had been awake since 4! Some things never change. :) So the boys went downstairs to play a little Christmas morning XBox, even though I was hesitant because I didn't want Cruz to see his big surprise, a new dartboard and custom built cabinet. Pretty oblivious to details most days, we expected him to walk right by the closed cabinet and not ask any questions. But after I made my coffee and went downstairs to hang, I caught two mischievous eyes peeking behind the cabinet doors while Beau was in the bathroom. And then I heard him play it off to Beau before I made him come clean! :)
Thanks to a sleeping beauty who didn't wake up until 7:30, we didn't start presents until 8. Then we took our usual four corners of the rug, the kids built their present forts, and we started youngest to oldest, soaking up the excitement and anticipation of months' worth of planning and investment!
Favorite stocking stuffers this year included Mila's earmuffs, new flashlights, and slime!
What's pretty sweet about the morning is that amidst their big stacks of presents, they always show the most interest when they're giving us their carefully handcrafted gifts and opening the gifts they each pick out for each other. And they always seem to be their favorite gifts! Cruz got Mila this battery-operated vending machine for her dolls, a completely random find that he was totally willing to spend an extra $7 of his own money to purchase for her. Mila picked out a remote control monster truck for Cruz and I couldn't get enough of watching her eyes light up and steal glances at me as he opened it and exclaimed his surprise.
I always make them take a pit stop halfway through for breakfast. Breakfast casserole, Katy's yummy cinnamon cake, fresh berries and juice, and Christmas blend coffee from Pella. A little of a lot of things we love at the table as we toast all the goodness of a fresh Christmas morn.
And boy did we all make out good this Christmas! Beau's favorite gift included a framed Cub score card filled out by Pat Hughes on game 7 of the World Series and a new chef's knife for all his chopping needs. I was spoiled this year with a pretty collection of so many of my favorite things - two new albums for my Crosley, cookbooks from my favorite foodie blog, a sweet package from Kate to compliment my 40 Before 40 bucket list, and a personalized print with the lyrics to Family, written by the Talbott Brothers themselves. Beau has come along way since the old days of teacher desk calendars and fourteen scarves. ;)
Oh and a gravy boat because I've only been saying I need one for the past four Thanksgivings. :)
Cruz LOVED his fuzzy bathrobe and slippers, his new XBox games, and was most excited about receiving the big Great Hall Harry Potter Lego set, even though he requested no legos this year. Sometimes, Moms just know best. :)
And last but not least, Mila girl loved her new outfit and carrier for Charlotte, her Bitty Baby, her new Welly Wisher doll, and her play school set. We especially had fun with this the days following Christmas. It comes with a pointer and a teacher planner and everything.
After all my carefully wrapped packages evolved into a tornado of tissue paper madness upstairs, we retired to the basement to break in our new dart board. When I was a kid, my dad did a similar thing for us, and I've got lots of memories playing darts in the basement after Christmas. It was fun to give the kids some similar ones this year, playing our first game of 501 with my new Fleetwood Mac vinyl playing on the Crosley. Beau and I both said one of the best surprises of our dart board is that we will get a lot more use out of the cozy seating right next to it. We've played a lot of darts since and are thankful for the wide doors Beau built to block many of the questionable throws.
That's a wrap! Literally...
No comments:
Post a Comment