GOING WEST!: The Twelve Days of Christmas

This was our first year EVER celebrating Christmas at home...primarily thanks to Cuatro, who still hasn't shown up but could come along any time. Considering that this was our 13th married Christmas (our first was on our honeymoon) that seems like quite a while. And our children had never woken up on Christmas morning in their own house! Since we don't have a fireplace, there was some consternation over where to hang the stockings. :)

The change from Advent Purple to Christmas Green!

Yesterday was fun...very relaxed and laid back. We woke up and did stockings at the table...I LOVE doing stockings. The fun little presents and surprises are a delightful part of the day. J and I felt like Christmas gifts could be done at that point...something to ponder for next year.

Then the kids played while we relaxed and moved towards breakfast, which was a true combination of our family traditions. Monkey bread, Sally eggs, and sausage. MMmmm!

Then the children each got their gift from us. This would be our family equivalent of a Santa gift from my childhood...we don't usually do that on Christmas morning, saving it for Epiphany instead (for one thing, we're usually home by then from Christmas travels!), but this year is a little different for lots of reasons. It was one of those extremely gratifying moments as a parent...for example, Pixie said she felt like she might cry, she was so happy.

That made me happy, since I found her gift at a great deal last June and have been hiding it in the garage ever since!!

Another tradition we've taken from J's family is to do one gift opening at a time. One person opens the first gift; then, that person goes to the tree, takes a gift tey are giving someone, and hands it to that person. It is fun and relational. For example, Bud gave Pixie something she had been asking for for months. This was the response:

Also, some time in October (I think) Pixie told me what she wanted to gift to J. It was her vision, and she loved handing him the present and was giddy waiting for him to open it. And when he did:

The whole day stretched out in a relaxed manner, with us all cozy inside as it was cloudy, wet, and "cold" all day (in contrast to 70s and sunny on Christmas Eve...one of MY favorite Christmas presents!!).

Here was another of my favorites: A Christmas sweater outfit! This was for Cuatro, but I got to open it, and try it on Cuatro as best I could.