Another Christmas Past..Makin' Memories

Christmas Eve, Pa and I were up way too late as usual. Come Christmas morning, Pa and I both had a heck of a time trying to open our eyes and drag ourselves out of bed when the kids began shaking us, and excitedly insisting we get up at what they seemed to think was a most reasonable hour of 6:00. When we protested, they were quick to inform us that we were fortunate that they had actually allowed us to sleep in. It seems Lindsay was ready to wake us at 3:00! Yup! Lindsay had awakened at 3AM, headed in to the living room, took one look, and immediately rushed in to wake up her brother and let him know there were two brand new bikes sitting in the living room! By the time our wake-up call arrived, they had thoroughly inspected said bikes, and were full of information. I had no idea the bikes had been made in California!

While I truly am grateful the kids allowed us to "sleep in", by the time early afternoon, and kitchen duties were in full swing, both my body and my mind were telling me noon would've been a much more appropriate time to get up. Thankfully, Pa is pretty good in the kitchen, and is more than willing to pitch in so the food prep was actually pretty much evenly divided. Although a bit late by Christmas meal standards, dinner was a success. A perfect ending to a perfect Christmas day!

There were a few chuckles to be had Christmas morning as we were opening gifts. First, was two of the gifts for the kids from my sister. Blanket sleepers! Nathan and Lindsay both had huge smiles on their faces as they held them up and Daniel and I both had a good laugh. Later it occurred to me that I've been relishing memories of their younger days, wishing those days and moments could last just a wee bit longer. These gifts are a fun blast to the past for me ;-)

The next very hearty laugh was from Pa when he opened his gift from my daughter, Kimmi. Pa likes pocket Ts. and is always insistent that any t-shirts he purchases, or receives as a gift is adorned with a pocket. Kimmi had done a fine job of honoring this request with a t-shirt that had a printed pocket with a rather cranky looking creature (a lizard? Or perhaps a dinosaur?), printed within it. It was great! And.... Pa said he would wear it! :)

The third gleeful chuckle was at Nathan's expense. Both our young'uns have been fighting cold and cough symptoms lately. Naturally, that means Ma and Pa have been diligently pouring liquid medications down their throats. Nathan is old enough now that we've been opting to give him a mild dose of Nyquil at night, as it seems to help more than the children's medicine. Although he admits it does help, he hates it!

Christmas Eve, one of the gifts I had to wrap for Nathan was very small. I did manage to wrap it, but it was so small it would've easily become lost in the jumble of gifts the next morning, so I thought I'd pull a fast one on him, and place it inside another, larger box before wrapping it once again. Pa and I looked around and found a box for a three pack of Nyquil we'd gotten from Costco. Perfect! I placed the tiny package inside, stuffed it with plastic bags, and wrapped it up, before placing it under the tree alongside everything else.

Christmas morning, as the gifts were gone through one at a time, Nathan finally came to "the gift". He eagerly ripped the paper off the box, gasped, and said, "You! You Guys! Very funny!" He then set the box off to the side like so much rubbish, and prepared to look for another, more desirable gift to open. We had to force him to open the box! He seemed confused when he saw the plastic packing material, and began pulling it out until he finally reached the tiny wrapped package in the bottom. He opened this package carefully, turned it over in his hands and became a bit excited, "A knife!" He then opened the box and peered inside. Then he got real excited! "It's a Swiss Army Knife! It's just what I wanted!"

*sigh* My son is growing up.

Last night, Pa and I were snug in bed by 9:30. It was nearly 8:30 when I got up and started the coffee and the fire this morning. Pa followed shortly after 9. Aahh! Blessed sleep!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and that you are enjoying the rest of this most wonderful of seasons safe, warm and dry, with your loved ones.