A Quiet Christmas

This year, Christmas was a bit different, both at our house and at my parents' house.

It started off quiet, with Alan waking at about his normal time. He cam in, only to find some things that Santa brought him (kitchen set with a bucket full of pretend food), as well as some other presents from Mom and Dad (us now...still seems weird sometimes).

He immediately saw a ball that had been wanting underneath the tree, unwrapped. I know, that sounds really funny that he had been wanting a ball, but it's true. We had one just like it out at Grammy and Pop-pop's house (my parents), and now, he would have one of his own.

To get him to notice the kitchen that Stanta brought him, Rebecca threw the ball toward it. As it bounced down the hallway toward the real kitchen...his eye caught his pretend kitchen...and lit up. He kind of smiled, and immedately took to it. He start turning knobs and pushing buttons....it was fun to watch. He even told us with his hand raised, "Hot, hot." He instantly understood what the oven was.

Mid-morning, we packed up and headed to my parents' house for brunch and then to open some gifts with them. We chose to only do gifts to the children this year, except for a few small "happies" that we gave them (our parents) and vice versa.

Brunch was delicious, as most food out there is. We have a tradition of eating some homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning that goes back at least a decade...probably longer. This time, rather than my mom preparing them, my sister made them. She is equally as good of a cook. She made the "Pioneer Woman" cinnamon rolls and they were delish!

Then, it was on to the presents. However, Alan had not had much sleep and needed a nap, as he was getting cranky. We just knew, with him being only a year and a half, he would not know the difference. We put him down for a nap and the rest of us decided to open gifts. It was just my sister's family, my family and my parents. Kind of a quiet Christmas Day.

Later, my older brother's family came over and we did kind of a "Round 2" of gift opening with their kids.

We all had a good time, watching the children revel in their gifts and enjoying each other's company.