Unwrapping Christmas

Christmas Eve is always hard to beat, but Christmas Day just may have tied it this year.  The kids got many presents.  Ari received a lot of Frozen toys like an Olaf, a wand, a microphone, a boom box, and a several other things.  Bella asked for Lego Friends, a fish, a real professional sports bra (for cheer), and a stuffed peacock.  Her wishes came true.  She also received her own big girl bike and scooter so she and Gabe wouldn’t have to share his.  Gabe wanted mostly Lego sets, but he also got a tree ladder, some sports balls, books, binoculars, and a few other things.  Liam got his first remote control car, Duplo sets, sword, among other things, but he loves playing with Ari’s toys the most.

All four of my little ones were so grateful and excited about every gift, no matter how small.  It was a pure joy to give to them and watch them receive.  They also had made us gifts from school, and were equally excited to give them to us.  I will always cherish the moments in which they’ve given us gifts and cards over the years.  Nothing is more special than watching their pride and anticipation at our appreciative reactions.  In my experience, there is no truer happiness felt in life than in giving to others, and especially to my own children.  I love watching them experience this joy.

Both of my sisters were here as well as Grammy and Papa.  I served a green chile egg casserole, because it was easy, but everyone loved it.  We took our time unwrapping, eating, and eventually cleaning up, and I don’t remember hearing a whine or a complaint all day.  The feeling was so playful and peaceful.  I feel happy just remembering the day.  After a nap, just the six of us went to Chinese food at Magic Noodle House and to watch a movie in the theater.  This year, we saw Big Hero 6.  This has become very much a tradition to us on the years that we are in town.  It is so relaxed, and yet so fun.  We get noodles, because I remember that as a child, my family sometimes used to eat noodles around New Years to represent long life or something like that.  When I was young, we also had a tradition of going to a movie and Chinese on Christmas Eve, because I was raised Jewish, and not much else was open on Christmas Eve that still felt festive.  Jake and I have decided to incorporate this tradition, because after cooking many consecutive elaborate meals and prepping/shopping/wrapping/decorating/baking/singing/reading/reflecting all month long, it is nice to have a break but still be celebratory and have something to look forward to. 

I didn’t take hardly any pictures this year, because I’ve been relying on my iPhone camera too much.  I’m kind of sad about it.  I want to start using my real camera again and be better about documenting detail the way that I used to.

All I can say is, I hope we remember this.  When things are hard and kids are whining and I am tired and crabby, I want to remember this.  When they are older and it seems like they care less and less (I hope this never happens, but I know it can), I want to remember this.  This day will never happen again.  At least not quite like this.  And I want to remember that it did and how it did for ever and ever and ever.