What a Life!

Christmas Day was always a family day at our house. Since we had already opened our gifts on Christmas Eve, we spent the day enjoying them. It was the one day a year where it was easy to get my Dad to sit down and play a game with us during the day. We often played games on Saturday nights, but he was always busy doing things during the day. Mom would join in sometimes, but she was often in the kitchen cooking, which she enjoyed. The whole day was like the ultimate Afterglow of Christmas. No more anticipation – just sheer enjoyment.

Here at our house, this year, we still have not opened gifts. Schon, Steve and I were up late last night just shooting the breeze. Schon delivers bread and has been working the midnight shift so his schedule is a little off – actually, he is still sleeping right now. Joey is also sleeping at the moment – taking his morning nap.

Last night, Ben was a wild-and-crazy man. He just would not settle down. We could hardly get him to eat supper. Finally, we did allow him to open one gift – his new flannel pants just like Daddy’s. They were a hit. Then we had him leave some goodies out for Santa and go to bed.

Yeah, go to bed. I finally ended up lying there with him just to get him to be quiet and settle down. He chattered non-stop. Steve was in the basement putting his toys away so there would be room for new ones – Ben heard some of the clatter and was sure it was Santa. I asked him which window he thought Santa would come in (since we don’t have a chimney) – he thought he would come through the window next to Joey’s bed. We were sure to be very quiet so we wouldn’t interrupt Santa and scare him away before he had a chance to leave Ben some toys.

Once I was sure Ben was asleep, I called the guys up and we set up the train. Unfortunately, Ben’s old Thomas the Train cars have a wheel-width that is about 1/8″ too narrow for the new track. [Why would they make it like that – more than one size of their trains?] Everything else is really neat, just as I expected it to be.

This morning, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and got the cinnamon rolls out. They didn’t rise fast enough in our winter-cool house yesterday for us to enjoy them with our chili. I turned on the oven and placed one pan of rolls on the stovetop, hoping it would be warm and encourage them to rise. I got the other pan of rolls out an hour later; by then the stovetop was warm and the second pan was ready to go in the oven when the first finished baking for a half hour. The gooey stuff went all over the place, but the rolls taste very good.

When Ben got up at 5:45, I was sitting on the couch with the camera set and ready to go. He checked the empty plate of goodies in passing and then headed over to the tree. He’s been playing with his new train set ever since, except for a short break to eat breakfast. Last night the boys could not leave the gifts alone – this morning, it is as though they don’t exist. I’m thinking setting up one toy on Christmas Eve might be more ingenious that I had realized.

I just downloaded 110 pictures from my camera – from last night and this morning. There are some real treasures in there. I so love my new lens.

The remainder of the day includes opening gifts (of course) and eating dinner. We’re having ham along with mashed sweet potatoes, jello, Horn Rolls, pumpkin pie, and the works.

Must go – Schon is up now so we have fun things to do and see!