Christmas Memories 2009

Note for posterity:
Even though Frank and I don't live at home each of our parent's still try to make Christmas so special for our family.
Frank's parents always ship us a big box of gifts and we usually have them sitting under our tree about a week before Christmas. One year we just got anxious and opened everything as a "pre-Christmas" around Dec. 23rd. I promise we haven't done it since- the kids get anxious, but mom and dad are much stronger in our will and it's nice to kind of think we are all opening gifts together at the same time on Christmas morning even if we are living a thousand miles apart. We know it's a hassle to ship, but we sure appreciate the hard work that Nanna (and Papaw who accompanies her on all the mall outings) puts into shopping and planning everything so meticulous among the siblings and grandkids and then to brave the post office multiple times during the holidays. She always suprises us with wonderful things and sometimes she might get a little disappointed that we usually don't have to take advantage of "take-back" day.
I feel the same way about my parents as well. Each take careful thought in the exact gifts to get us. It seems my mom is always wanting to give something meaningful and needed to me and Frank and the grandkids get toys that aren't just something random they find on the shelf at the store. They are carefully thought about and considered for each child. For example, this year my mom took special care in making sure that we weren't getting Camberlyn a high chair for her dolls. She wanted to order a special wooden one for each of her granddaughters. I believe she saw this gift as something that could possibly be kept for a long time and maybe even handed down.

Back to the intentions of the post-
Christmas Eve:
We went to my side of the family for our "traditional" Christmas dinner that we've had ever since I can remember. This includes deli meats and cheeses, rolls, salad, vegetables, chips, home made chip dip, stuffed mushrooms, shrimp, and Christmas punch. After dinner we played a game of Christmas pictionary then we watched the Claymation Christmas Special (with the California raisins and the bell ringers). Some members of my family do Christmas Eve PJ's and they opened those. We don't do that, but our little family gets a new Christmas book that we read on Christmas Eve. We then came home, sprinkled oatmeal feed on the snow for the Reindeer, put out cookies for Santa, and headed to bed.

Christmas Morning: Jackson woke-up first around 7:30 and then he gladly woke-up Gavin and then we woke-up Camberlyn as well. Dad went down to the living room first and got the video camera all ready and slowly the kids went down the stairs. I've noticed that having a small living room crammed with a Christmas tree, an overstuffed couch, an antique piano, plus presents really makes the amount of gifts look grand. I think the kids were amazed.

Jackson got his leather jacket that he said, "completed his Indiana Jones costume", a humungous, automatic, Nerf gun (complete with tripod), and some other gifts.

Jackson got a magic set and he's trying to figure out the magic rings.

Gavin got his skateboard and pads, a Trio castle building set, Lego's, and some other things as well. Camberlyn got a plush Tinkerbell chair, shoes, a Cinderella dress-up set, and a few others.

Frank figuring out his new portable GPS system.

After opening presents and eating our traditional sausage balls, clementines, and egg nog in front of the tree we played for a while then got ready for the day.

We went back over to my parent's house to join in my dad's side extended Christmas gathering where the theme was Mexican food. Needless to say, this is always the event that makes Frank's stomach show its sensitive side. I guess just the mixture of everything together really irritated him this year, plus it could have been the stuffed Jalapeno poppers that we ate. Who knows?

After all the people left we did our gift exchange with my mom and dad (because we were all together we also planned an upcoming Disneyland trip in April, I can't wait) and siblings then we played Beatles Rockband for a little bit before heading home and letting the kids play with their toys some more.

On holidays, Christmas in particular, I really miss the fact that Frank's parents don't live close. It would be so nice to see both sets of parents on this day and let them all enjoy the fun that the kids bring to this time of year. Most importantly, it's being with the ones you love.