05 January 2009

Merry Christmas (Christmas Travels, Part 2)

So, we woke on Christmas morning and unloaded out stockings. Each stocking has the traditional orange, in-shell peanuts, and candy, as well as something special for each person.

We had breakfast together...traditional scrambled eggs, bacon, monkey bread, and whatnot...then did dishes and THEN began the gift opening.

They were opened one at a time (none of this crazy all-at-once orgy of greed self-absorbed self-centeredness!), and each one was exclaimed over and appreciated.

(Wow, writing about this is really boring. Believe me, it was a nice day, not boring at all.)

Our niece, who is 16 months old, was very cute in the midst of all this. She understood the concept of tearing paper off, but may not have understood that the paper was the prelude, not the game itself. Her Favorite Uncle (my youngest brother-in-law) spent lots of time with her helping her unwrap and enjoy gifts! He is so kind and gentle with her, it's no wonder he's Her Favorite Uncle.

We had Christmas Dinner (Ham and stuff) later that evening...about 8pm...and inbetween gift-opening and dinner several things happened: Niece had her nap, movies were watched, books were perused, phone calls were made (just two...the daughters-in-law to each respective set of parents).

All in all, a nice, relaxing, family-focused, traditional and new-tradition-building day. I loved it.

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