Merry Christmas!
Our collective wake-up call came at five-thirty this morning, and I ended up getting a bit less than four hours of sleep. Before I get to today’s action, I should mention that my Santa’s helper act earlier this morning was witnessed by Violet and Dillon. I tried not to get in the way of their Christmas cuddling any longer than needed, but I did stay long enough to hug each of them goodnight and get a couple of the remaining bakery cookies for the road after finding places to put my load of gifts in and around the stacks that now surrounded the tree.
The kids of all ages had to settle for checking out what was in their stockings until Aunt Leanne, Uncle Adam, and ‘the grandparents’ could join the party. Dawn and I helped Mom and Aunt Alison with Jayden, Ethan, and Ehlana while Uncle Blaine and Aunt Grace kept up with Jaimie and Kaitlyn; and the rest of the parents and teens helped out with getting drinks and pre-breakfast snacks ready.
This was my first Christmas with the whole family home, and having it land on a Sunday made for a wild, non-stop adventure ride. We somehow managed to open presents; cook, eat, and clean up from breakfast; take turns getting ready for church; and have the main Christmas dinner foods cooking in ovens at three houses before rushing out and making it to church with enough time to get everyone seated before the service started at eleven o’clock.
The teens were doing encores of some of their skits and music during the service, and there was a short birthday cake and drinks reception that followed; though some of the cooks and helpers in our family headed home instead of staying for that. Violet and Dillon were having lunch and spending most of the afternoon with his family until dinnertime; but everyone else spent the rest of the day in and around our house.
I mostly played with Dawn, Jaimie, and Kaitlyn; though Dawn and I popped over to Rowen’s house after lunch for a quick visit and a little gift exchange that we hadn’t wanted to do at church last night or this morning. We took Ethan, Ehlana, and Jayden out for another walk to the park to play when most of the Moms really got busy with getting dinner ready. Dinner was another couple or three crazy hours of fun, and Dawn and I got out of cleanup by taking care of our five younger cousins or siblings while everyone else pitched in to clean up.
The rest of our evening was comparatively quiet. Chris and Martin played video games in the lounge with anyone who had the energy to make the trek to the third floor and hang out with them for a while. Dawn and I stayed in the living room, where we played with Jaimie and Kaitlyn, listened to music, and occasionally joined in on the quiet, relaxed conversation that the adults were having. Ehlana, Jayden, and Ethan were first to be ready to call it a night – in that order – and Mom and Aunt Alison had lots of help to get them fed and off to bed. Jaimie and Kaitlyn were tired too, but didn’t want to go to bed until our trio of grandfathers advised them that they were going home to bed soon, and that they’d need to get ready for bed or miss out on story time.
Dawn and I still needed to help out by getting ready for bed then too; and I ended up without a sleepover buddy when Dawn fell asleep while cuddling with Kaitlyn in Aunt Grace’s bed. That’s had the bonus for me that I could do a bit of uninterrupted computer work after closing the doors between the lounge and my bedroom; and I’ve been doing that since climbing into bed an hour or so ago.
Tomorrow’s Boxing Day, though, and while we’ll be saying goodbye to the Granite Park members of our family, we also have some sales to check out, and the lunchtime buffet at the Inn first. The Rice family is staying until Tuesday morning; mostly to spend the extra time with Violet. I’ll need to get around to writing more about the family and town news, but that can wait for a day or two. Right now, all I want for the rest of my Christmas is a good night’s sleep!