Christmas Memories

    I have lots of fond Christmas memories from my childhood. We always spent Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family and Christmas Day with my dad's side. Each morning we would wake up and eat brunch. After brunch dad would peek into the living room to see if Santa had visited our house. Dad would call out with a "Ho, Ho, Ho!" to let us know that there were gifts from Santa waiting for us. We would all come running in to see what kind of toys were there. Santa would leave us one large gift, unwrapped, and then we had some wrapped gifts under the tree from mom and dad. We would take turns opening our gifts one at a time. Each year we would argue over whether we should start with the oldest to open gifts (always my vote!) or the youngest. To this day, we still open gifts one at a time and still argue over who should start. With spouses and kids added to the mix, our gift opening can run several hours.

    Since our girls were born we have wanted to create special Christmas memories for them. We wake early on Christmas morning (too early for my liking - actually, last year I was awakend at 3:00 Christmas morning by the sound of Tori in her room. She was up and looking through the stocking Santa had left, so excited that he had come. She was disappointed to hear it was the middle of the night and that she had to go back to bed for a few hours before opening her gifts) and rush to see if Santa has visited. We open gifts, make brunch and then spend the day together enjoying our new gifts but more importantly, time together.

    I hope you have a wonderful day with your family and a Merry Christmas!