'Twas the Night Before Christmas

I have always liked Christmas Eve better than Christmas day. Even as a kid, although I was wildly excited to open presents, the sense of expectation was almost more fun. As a mom, I have generally made a big deal out of Christmas Eve but this year was a little different. It was really quiet for a change, but was really nice. It was just me and the kids and it was fun for a change to not be bound by a schedule and to just watch them without being distracted by guests or meal preparation. I will admit that holidays are just not my favorite anymore. Things you are able to forget at other times of the year come back with a vengeance during the holiday season. There is always the feeling of something missing and the sadness of being alone for something that is meant to be shared. While I don't expect that to ever really go away, I am getting more used to feeling it. Either way, watching my kids on Christmas is absolutely delightful and this year was pretty nice.

The kids woke up Christmas eve morning and immediately asked how long it was until bedtime. The boys, who had done nothing but fight with each other for weeks were angels. Once when the house was a little too quiet, I went upstairs to find them both on Bubba's bed, drawing pictures of what they hoped to get from Santa "to make the time go by faster." We had lunch at McDonald's and came home to watch movies and play our new family board game to try to make the day less long. By 6 pm, they were begging to go to bed :-)

Usually, we have fondue on Christmas Eve, but the kids still eat the equivalent of one sandwich between them, and I wasn't about to eat a whole pot of cheese by myself (don't get me wrong, I COULD, but it didn't seem like a good idea :-). So, we saved that meal to introduce to Gma and Gpa W when they came for dinner. Instead, we had had turkey croissant sandwiches, clementines, fudge and sparkling cider while we watched the Norad Santa Tracker online. It was delicious.



I taught the kids how to toast with their cups and now it is all they want to do at every meal.


Next came watching the movie of their choice (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer) in my bed...


The yearly stairs/christmas jammies photo came after they wrote a letter to Santa along with leaving milk and cookies. Junior helpfully put out another list of the things they had asked for in case there was any question on Santa's end.


Then they spent awhile at the window watching for rudolph's nose up in the sky.


Sis went to her own bed, but the boys wanted to sleep in my room. I made them a bed on the floor facing the window so they could watch the sky for Santa. They were in bed by 8, but were too excited to fall asleep until 10 (a feeling I remember really, really well). I sat outside the room for awhile and listened to them talk about the mysteries of Santa and Christmas. Junior couldn't reason out how Santa gets to every house on the same night (my earlier explanation of 'christmas magic' didn't convince him). Bubba had some serious doubts about whether or not he had been good enough for Santa to bring him toys (again, my earlier assurances meant nothing.) He finally figured that even if Santa didn't bring him any presents, he would at least fill his stocking. I tried to be sneaky and record the conversation on my camera, but they were talking too quietly. Bummer :-)


Whew! Santa made it....



Sis' favorite present was her toy make up kit.
Bubba's favorite present was his 'real' light saber
Junior's favorite present was his Lego sorter.

Gma and Gpa K joined us for breakfast and we all ate too much while the kids got spoiled with even more presents and we figured out how to hook up the new Wii.

Merry Christmas to all...