Living: Christmas 2013

Guess who woke up at 4:30 this Christmas?  If you guessed Clara you'd be wrong.  If you guessed Paul, you'd be wrong.  How about ME?  I am the biggest kid in this house!

Ever since I was little I could never sleep well Christmas Eve.  Too much excitement.  This year I was just sure that the kids were going to wake up and run in to me during the night.  I didn't want to miss their expressions.  Ha, ha.  No, they slept.

 

When Paul woke up at his usual 5:30, it took him a few minutes to realize their were lots of presents now under the tree, and they could be opened.  Once he realized that, we had to wake up Clara to ensure that she would get to open hers.  In other words, Christmas this year could best be described as "chaos."  (At least when it came to opening the presents.)

The big gift was an indoor teepee with sleeping bags.  The kids really love it, and they slept in it two nights in a row.  It is really big (over 5' in each direction), and so I am trying to figure how to rearrange their room to accommodate it.  (Should have thought of that beforehand!)

Paul got lots of books - especially tractor and farm-related things.  Clara got lots of pony-related things.  They both couldn't be happier.

We went to church in Demopolis after present-time.  I never grew up going to church on Christmas day, always on Christmas Eve.  But the truth is, I really was glad to take time on Christmas to go to church.  It helped me to not focus the whole day on presents and food, which is how it usually goes.

  

But there were plenty of presents and food - especially once we drove up to Gram and Pop's.  I was reminded of a part of How the Grinch Stole Christmas where the Grinch describes the Who's: "And they'll feast, and they'll feast, and they'll feast, feast, feast, feast!"  That was exactly how it was - and man, was I stuffed!

 

One of the neatest presents was a quilt for Leah that Ann made.  She had been gathering old clothing from all the family members to make it.  It turned out great, and it was fun to identify everyone's clothes.  It was a very Merry Christmas.  Of course, I wish that I could have spent time with my family on Christmas, but soon enough we will all be together when Baby #3 arrives!