Ho, Ho, Ho

This year I celebrated Christmas with our children and grandchildren on Sunday. My mom and siblings always had Christmas on the eve of the big day, so around here we were Christmas morning folk. After the boys married, of course, this became more complicated. Rae Rae was still home, so I told the boys that I understood if they couldn't make Christmas morning, but Christmas morning would go on as usual until Miss Rae became a Mrs. Well, two days after Christmas last year, she did. The man she married has family a bit south of here and a sister in Vermont. I knew, if that sister and her three babies could get this far, Rae and Michael needed to be available to mold to their plans to her availability, so we officially changed tradition last year, and moved our celebration to the Sunday before.

It was a necessary change, but it will take me awhile to get used to it. I have just always been a person who likes to celebrate on the chosen day, be it birthday, whatever. Last Christmas, I spent the entire day cooking for the wedding reception. By about 6 o'clock, I was seriously spent and feeling quite lonely. I asked Handy Man if he would just come sit in kitchen and talk to me awhile and he did. We'll see what this year feels like. Maybe, sometime, Handy Man and I will find a place to volunteer on Christmas. Christmas and no children feels sort of prickly to me.

That being said, they are some high points to the Sunday before. No one has anywhere else to be, which seems to ease the tension in everyone. We chose post nap as the time for celebrating, so all the poopies are in good form. It's the first presents of the season, so not as much over stimulation. They can actually look and play with their toys. If not for the pre-party car wreck, it would have been practically perfect in every way. Lastly, gramerlings that wish to, can spend the night. Bugg and Bean always wish to.
Miss Bugg was thrilled with her mixer, that actually mixed. Party folk however grew quite weary of the whirring of the beaters after twenty minutes or so-grinches all.

1st Lt. read a book about whaling that contained parts of an actual diary used as the basis for Moby Dick. 1st Lt. gave it to Handy Man, who kept telling me bits and pieces, that roused my curiosity, so I read it. All of us talked about it so much, that Bean developed quite an interest in the whole whaling business, and endlessly asks for whaling stories, where he, naturally, is the hero. Lo and behold, I found a whale rescue toy set with the helicopter, big boat, little boat and little people whale rescuers, and let's not forget, a big whale. Bean declared the delightful to Gramerly's ear words, "This is exactly what I wanted," and hardly looked up the rest of the evening.

Miss Buttercup did what 15 month old babies do and simply scuttled about happily playing with whatever was handy.

We had a yummy dinner, but all the wee ones ordered an egg! So, we cooked eggs! Dee-wish-us!