If you’re not a morning person, tough luck. His exuberance will not be denied. If you ARE a morning person., tough luck. You will just have to stay in bed until he can orchestrate the beginning of Christmas morning. This is his indulgent pleasure, to keep the magic of Christmas morning, magical. He does a fine job of it, at that. From there we have cinnamon rolls with coffee and orange juice, it’s tradition
My problem
with Christmas is the work involved to get to this one day. For many years,
from Thanksgiving forward, a list of names was compiled with a potential gift
idea for each person on that list. Then the logistics of who will purchase, who
will wrap, when will we see the giftee and did we remember to get a gift
receipt ensues. As nieces and nephews have grown to young adults many of the
gifts have become the gift that never gets returned, cash. Everyone likes to
get cash. I like the idea of signing a card with a personal sentiment and
dropping a dollar amount inside that will certainly be put to good use and is
always appreciated. Nobody ever hands back a card with cash and says, “ I
already got this, can I return it?”
I really do
like to give gifts, but not so much to exchange gifts. I am blessed and fortunate to be at a place in
life where I can acquire almost anything I want or need with my own means.
Maybe not right away or in a moment’s whim, but I don’t do without much and I
don’t have to wait all year for Christmas Day to purchase socks and underwear. It’s a good place to be. I am grateful to be
in such a place.
So, you
might wonder what made this Christmas seem so much more relaxing than previous
ones. I am not so sure, not much of the day’s routine was radically different
for Christmas of days past. I stretched out on the sofa after our cinnamon
rolls and coffee breakfast. I watched A Christmas Carol (Reginald Owen) for the
third time in 2 days while texting playful witty banter between my sister and
brother. I started the gravy and meatballs for dinner and the hubby took over
from there, preparing the ravioli while I made the salad. He fed the younger grands so they could go
about their Christmas day and then the rest of us sat down to a leisurely dinner.
It was delightful. The Sons-in-law cleared the dishes and stacked the
dishwasher, we had coffee and dessert. The day ended by seven o-clock and I found myself back on
the sofa, stretched out and recounting just how awesomely relaxing this
Christmas day had been, full of peace, comfort and joy. The bar has been set
high for next year to measure up. I won’t stress about it. I’ll bask in the
glow of this year. 
Merry Christmas!
