merry christmas morning
/
I woke Ryan up at 5:09 am. He jumped out of bed, got dressed, came back in to brush his teeth, out again to get his milk and check out his stocking. It's the one thing he is allowed to open while I am in bed. It's a rule that we had growing up. I would be awake from about 4 am, wishing that Nancy would wake up knowing she would get angry if it was before 5 am. Then finally she woke up and we both went downstairs and got our dolls or animal and then our stocking. After that, we stayed on the couch and slept until dad woke up and came down to make the coffee and start breakfast. Then slowly mom came down and we had to eat before we could open any gifts. There were exceptions when Santa left an outfit for church and we got to open those boxes only. And mom knew right which boxes to pick. hmm...
Thinking back, I am amazed we could last so long. Not only was there the wait to eat, sometimes we went to mass and then had breakfast before we got to open gifts. And mom orchestrated the whole thing. She handed out gifts so each kid got one about equal value. Each person opened the gift and we oohed and ahhed before we moved onto the next one. Gifts were arranged in neat piles and guarded. This prolonged the gift giving and receiving quite a bit. Afterwards, we were exhausted and needed naps.
Today, the melee lasted about 15-20 minutes. Poppa didn't even get dressed before it was over. I had talked Ryan into waiting until 7 am to open any gifts but, like a kid on Christmas, I could wait. Neither could Andy and we were opening gifts by 6:30. The boys just opened and went on to the next gift. I am not sure they looked at the gift long enough to know what it was. It looked like they were finished so I grabbed a trash bag and we gathered up the wrappings. More unopened gifts were found underneath. While I did take photos when they were opening their gifts, I realize that I didn't see how they felt about those items. Probably, they didn't know themselves as they were just getting through the opening. Andy never said a word when he got his video camera, the one item he had asked for specifically.
After all the gifts were opened, then the boys grabbed the items they really wanted and then I could see their reactions. The rain stick I thought Andy would love intrigued Ryan. The books I got Andy kept Ryan busy. Andy was just happy to play with his slinky and then grabbed the laptop to watch YouTube! What? Oh no! I showed him his camera and of course he wanted that, NOW! But the battery had to charge. So poppa set him up at the kitchen table with a tall chair and he made faces and such while the battery charged.
Then I went off to church Starbucks and fuel up on caffeine. The caffeine seems to be wearing off and I am starting to feel the day so I will continue this tomorrow. Perhaps.