When I was a kid, my mom would wake us up at 12:01 am on Christmas Day to open presents. When I had my own I decided I was not going that route. We usually wake up at a more normal hour, like 6 am. Then the kids get up and tear into their stockings while we wait for Daddy who takes 20 min to go pee and brush his teeth. Things were different this year.
In the hubs family each person takes a turn to open all their gifts. And at his aunts she seperated kid time from adult time. The kids presents all went under a tree in the informal living room. The hubs played Santa.
Once he passed around all the gifts, it became chaotic lol!
It actually took longer than I thought, although Molly (whom takes after her mother in regards to gift opening) was done in 10 minutes. The other kids actually showed off each and every gift. Once they were open my own kids started digging in.
Alex decided to start off with a truck set he got.
Claire had a specific book (Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days) that she really wanted and that is what she started with first.
Molly also got a book that taught how to write stories (she is always writing stories!) and that is where she started.
Meanwhile the adults went to the formal living room to begin their present opening. One cousin went first, then Aunt Doodle went. Now Aunt Doodle has a lot of friends (she is VERY social) and all of her friends sent over gifts. Aunt Doodle will not open these gifts until Christmas Day when everyone is sitting by the tree. So she had about 40 more presents than everyone else. And she is in her 70′s. And every gift has a story. And sometimes she makes phone calls while opening gifts. Long story short, we took a break for brunch as soon as she was done with her pile. I had been warned that it would take a few hours but being warned and actually sitting through it is quite different. It wasn’t even that I wanted to open mine, I just had a sore spot on my butt from sitting there lol. Anywho the kids were itching to get in the pool so during brunch the hubs got it worked out to where he would go next so he could watch the kids in the pool. So we head back. Well we had alot of mutual gifts. So after he opened his 4 gifts just for him everyone encouraged him to stick around and we open our mutual gifts. Then he escaped and everyone decided it was my turn. No matter how many times I have done this I still get uneasy with all eyes on me as I open gifts. I am a fast gift opener. I rip wrapping paper, look at it, hold it up, make a “how cute” or “omg I love this” comment and move on. No stories. Nothing. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate what I got it’s just the eyes. I can feel them and it’s not pleasant. One thing that did cause me to really react was my nutcracker this year. Aunt Doodle has been getting nutcrackers for me the last couple of years and I really hope she keeps it up. I LOVE NUTCRACKERS! My great grandmother (who was german) used to have them everywhere and to have that tradition going again just thrills me. And this years nutcracker made me just about pee my pants.
It’s a PIRATE!! I love pirates!
Another super special gift didn’t come from family. It actually came from the Festival of Trees. Not sure if this happens everywhere but here when you lose a family member to cancer you can have their name added to a tree at the holidays. I remember making the donation and requesting my brother in laws name added. Well we received an angel ornament.
This is one ornament that will have a special place up front, near the top, so it’s easy to find every year.
Some other gifts I got were:
All in all, it was a very good holiday!
Categories: 
Tags: 
