Our Christmas celebration

I hope that you all had a very merry Christmas! Ours was wonderful. Daniel and I exchanged gifts at my house on Christmas Eve in the afternoon, in front of our own real, water-guzzling Balsam Fir. We had been two of those crazy people that went to a Best Buy store at one in the morning to stand in line and buy one of those computers on an incredible Black Friday deal… since we did that, we considered our computer our gift to each other and limited each other to one small gift each for Christmas.

I gave Daniel a four-way sterling medal on a steel chain—one of the ones with an image of the Miraculous Medal, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Christopher, and St. Joseph in the parts of the cross. He gave me a computer program for designing home plans, landscaping, interior design, etc. (which may seem boring to you, but it is the kind of thing I love).

We had dinner with my family on Christmas Eve and Daniel exchanged gifts with my family, then we went to mass at 8:00 at my church. It was just the two of us, since my family had gone to the 4:00 children’s mass. Afterwards, we came back to my parents’ house again to wrap presents for a while until Daniel left at around 11:00. I didn’t end up crawling into bed with my long-asleep little sister Annie (ten) until almost 1:00.

After multiple excited wake-up-calls from seven-year-old Paul, beginning at 3:00 in the morning, the whole family eventually woke up and assembled to go downstairs at 7:00. And our traditional Christmas morning commenced. In my family, we always look at our Santa gifts and sort through our stockings first, then we all sit down for coffee and cinnamon buns. After that everyone takes turns, going from youngest to oldest (Edward to my dad), opening presents one at a time. That way, everyone gets to enjoy everyone opening their gifts and seeing each other’s reactions. This is definitely a tradition I want to continue with my own children. It makes our Christmas morning last into the afternoon (and it keeps wrapping paper and ribbon messes to a minimum).

I didn’t get to see Daniel at all on Christmas day, since we were each celebrating with our families at home. On the 26th, I drove to his parents’ house to spend the day with his family. It was definitely quieter there than at my parents’ house, but it was nice.

Happy 2009, everyone!