Christmas Day
This morning began at 7 am. Howard and I rolled out of bed to discover my sister and her husband in the kitchen, but nary a child to be seen. We had fully expected to be pounced awake at 5 am. Howard started cooking bacon and the kids began to roll out of bed. They were remarkably patient about waiting for everyone to gather. We actually sat at the kitchen table talking and laughing while Howard finished cooking the bacon. Then we ate bacon. When I was a kid we were always bouncing around in the wee hours of the morning. My kids are different. More often than not Howard and I wake them up. Finally Kiki went and woke up Gleek who was the late sleeper. Then we all trooped in to look at the morning surprises. It went really well. Our big surprise was that We managed to get our hands on a Wii. I’d given up on the idea of getting a Wii because I’m not willing to stand in line for hours at subfreezing temperatures and we can’t afford to pay the prices they were going for on ebay. Then last week Amazon had a lottery which allowed people to enter to win the chance to buy one of Amazon’s Wii consoles. I entered. I won. We had the Wii shipped to my parent’s house. It has seen nonstop use since this morning.
In an ideal world the kids would have time to savor an opened gift and truly appreciate it before we moved on to the next one. If we had done that this year the whole crowd of us would still be in one room opening gifts at Midnight, or maybe even New Years Day. This was one of those years when everyone gets piles of everything that they wanted. I’ve been glad to watch it after the past two lean Christmases. I keep telling myself that the abundance of this Christmas is acceptable because we don’t buy new things during most of the rest of the year. But it is a little dismaying toward the end of the Christmas present opening, when all efforts at turn taking are abandoned and the kids don’t even bother to read the tags before opening the gifts. Kiki has a little bag she loves and we have no idea who gave it to her. On the other hand the frenzy didn’t begin until after the kids had all carefully handed out their gifts that they had selected. At the beginning we divded the presents into piles of things that each person was giving. Then the person carefully handed a gift to the person whose turn it was to open. I have a lovely memory of Patches cradling the gift that he was anxiously awaiting the chance to give to Gleek. He’d picked it out, and wrapped it, and waited for weeks trying very hard not to tell what it was. Handing over that package and seeing it opened delighted him. I’m so glad to see my kids enjoying the giving as much as the getting.
It was also interesting to watch the difference in shopping styles. Mom and I and my older Sister all carefully planned and conferenced for months to make sure that each child would have a perfect set of gifts. The gifts are carefully thought out and will be enjoyed for months and years. My Dad, My oldest brother, and My youngest brother all went shopping on Friday. They bought piles of stuff, wrapped it and handed it out. By the end of the present opening all the kids were clamoring to open the presents from my oldest brother because he picked fun toys that they’ve never seen before. These were toys that could be used right now, while most of my and my mom’s carefully selected gifts need quieter places and times to be enjoyed. Once again my mom came through with an amazing array of wonderful gifts that my kids are going to enjoy for a long time to come.
The morning surprises have now been dispensed, the presents have all been opened. Now is the time where the kids play with toys while the adults sneak off to take naps. Later we’ll have a big Christmas dinner and then the holiday will be over for another year. Or almost over. We still have another whole day at Grandma’s house to enjoy. Then we go home and have vacation time there. On New Year’s eve will be a Tayler family event with even more gifts. I’m sad that we’re coming to the end of our vacation. It has been truly wonderful.