Let me tell you - there truly is no place like home for Christmas. We stayed home for Christmas - unexpectedly. We were headed to Wisconsin, and then the snow came and came and came. The roads got icy, and we decided not to brave it. We had a traditional family Christmas, with just the five of us, and it was amazing. I swear this year, despite my p.m.s. and my lack of sleep, I could feel the magic. We went to Christmas Eve mass with the children's choir; we feasted after mass and the kids gave sweet kid toasts; we read The Night Before Christmas and No Room at the Inn; and then the kids fought sleep until about 9:30. Gannon woke up at 3:30 a.m. and announced that he had waited "long enough" to open presents, crawled into bed with us, and was snoring within seconds. Maguire did as she was told and waited until 6:00 to get out of bed. I think she was thinking that there was a slight possibility Santa hadn't come yet, and she didn't want to break a rule right before he showed up. She likes rules.
Then we opened gifts....for THREE hours. I couldn't believe it. Usually it lasts seconds. But because we were home, we took our time and opened every gift and played with it for a while before we opened another. Rojo preferred to eat the bows, but Maguire and Gan got that look on their face - the one that moms over the world seek - that look of pure joy. I even saw my husband crack a smile or two. (I spent most of the day patting myself on the back for nailing Christmas this year.)
Then, we had a traditional family brunch and spent the day playing with the toys and watching Christmas Vacation over and over and over again.
The one dark spot to the whole day was the snow fort fiasco.
Let me set the stage: Ryan built the kids a snow fort and then came inside after shoveling for about six hours. We were putzing around, when I heard, "Moooooooommmmmm!" coming from outside. I waited to hear it again, and, sure enough, there it was. We hustled to look outside (I wasn't actually putting on a coat and going out there unless it was a real emergency). And we saw this:
THEY WERE STUCK - NO KIDDING - SERIOUSLY STUCK.
Ryan had to dig them out.
After some hot cocoa and a candy cane, they recovered. I was still laughing when I put them to bed that night.
So, next year, we're staying home again. Merry Christmas to me.
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