My oldest son (next to youngest child) drove home from where he is living and working to celebrate Christmas with us. Yeah, for me. Three of my five kids are here, at least for a few days.
Today, being Christmas Eve, is packed with our traditional activities.
My oldest son, I believe mostly because of his ADHD, cannot even start Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve, so he’ll be spending several hours in search of gifts for the rest of us. A sharp contrast to me having all my shopping and wrapping done before Thanksgiving. It even contrasts with my other two kids, who were done with even the wrapping by last week. But there is only four other family members here, so it isn’t as if he has to get a lot of gifts.
While he is doing that, my daughter will be directing the rest of us in the kitchen. My daughter and I cooking while my husband and son fetch and carry for us, and maybe even wash a few dishes. We are not only making Christmas dinner but preparing Christmas morning breakfast so it’ll be something quick and easy for people to get as they want in the morning.
After our dinner is ready, we’ll set the table. Hopefully, by the time we are ready to dish up my older son will have returned from his shopping expedition so that we can have a family dinner.
After dinner we’ll probably get my husband and one or more sons to do the dishes (relax, most of them will fit in the dishwasher), while my daughter and I make sure all the leftovers get properly stored.
Once the house is back in order I’ll make every effort to gather my family around the Christmas tree and read Luke 2, and also “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. Both are tradition in our family.
After that my husband will probably retire for the night, while my oldest son secrets himself into a bedroom (whichever one he can get us to vacate for him) to wrap his gifts.
While he is doing that, my son, daughter and I will gather our stockings and work on filling each one with treats and surprises. Then, of course, we have to clean up any mess we made and make sure the stockings are all nice and ready for morning. By then my oldest son should be able to add what he got to the stack of presents already waiting under the tree and we can all retire for the evening.
Though, traditionally, my oldest son does not sleep Christmas Eve. I have my doubts that my oldest daughter sleeps Christmas Eve.
When they were all much younger we had to tell our oldest we were not getting up before six. As in, I point blank refused to get out of bed before 6 a.m. no matter how much she begged. She started making sure she woke us up promptly at six because she wasn’t waiting any longer. Since she’s the mother now, I’m fairly certain she has to work with the desires of her own children.
Once she was out of the house, and all my kids were adults anyway, we moved our gift unwrapping time to a much more reasonable time. While middle daughter was still in the house, it was 8 a.m. Now, since at least half of us have to get up at 7 a.m. to feed fur family members, we open presents after that. So, by 7:30.
And since breakfast just needs reheated, we can do that as we feel we need to eat. Though I sincerely doubt it’ll take us more than an hour to unwrap what’s bound to be less than 40 gifts divided between 5 people.
Plans are already in place to call my oldest sometime that morning. Plus, I’ll call Bonnie at some point. Probably even the oldest of my remaining brothers. My husband might call at least one of his sisters, if not both. Maybe even his baby brother. (The man will be 50 next year so he isn’t little anymore.)
The rest of the day is a bit less structured. Though I’m sure my son (youngest) and daughter will try to get as many of us as possible to play a game or two. Plus, my daughter has already prepared things for a massive cookie baking session with all hands-on-deck. Though I’m not exactly sure what the guys will be doing beyond possibly washing dishes as needed.
Hopefully, all that will go smoothly so that we can have a pleasant couple of days. I’m assuming my son will have to leave sometime Friday, so he doesn’t miss any work.
How is your holiday shaping up?
Smile. Make the day a brighter day.
