Wait! It's over?

I've decided the amount of time the Christmas morning celebration lasts is directly proportional to your age. The younger you are, the faster it's over. Wyatt was down the stairs and tearing into presents before I could even press 'start' on the camcorder. No leisurely opening of packages admiring the attractive paper, no savoring each gift, no remarking on it's useful/exciting/unique qualities, no talk of memories of Christmases past. He just plowed through them, one after the next. By 8am, we were swimming in a sea of empty boxes, plastic containers and wrapping paper remnants. He turned to us and said "MORE! I want to open more presents!" Unbelievable. This just confirmed that he had gotten more than enough. I suppose that's the way Christmas is for kids. I've heard my mom tell a story or two that makes me believe we weren't much different when we were little. This is the first year we've really "played" Santa and it's just interesting being on the other side of things now.

We spent the rest of the morning in our PJs, playing with new toys, watching the movies Santa brought, Toy Story 1 & 2, and dining our way through the holiday. Dayven outdid himself with delectable breakfast meals each morning - biscuits and gravy, Eggs Benedict and sausage, egg and cheese biscuit sandwiches. On Christmas night, we had a fabulous prime rib dinner, also prepared by Dayven. That man can cook!

Even though it's supposed to be the happiest day of the year, I always feel a little bit melancholy once the rush has passed. Maybe it's the fact that there's such a build up leading up to Christmas that it's kind of sad once it's over. We didn't go to mass this year either, which I really missed. I just knew the kids wouldn't be up to it. We've all been sneezing, dripping, wheezing and coughing this past week. Wyatt is almost fully recovered, Hadley is in the throes of it (poor thing was up 5 times Christmas Eve) and I'm battling it now. I don't know how much longer my immune system can hold out. Dayven has been pumping himself full of Cold-FX and scotch (not together, of course) in hopes of warding it off. He believes that scotch somehow destroys all germs. Don't ask me.

Although I enjoyed not having to battle the crowds at the airport, I missed my family this Christmas. It wasn't the same without them. My parents spent the holiday in St. Pete with my brother. They had a relaxing Christmas Eve dinner at Ceviche, a Spanish tapas restaurant, followed by Christmas Mass, egg nog and dessert at their hotel and Christmas dinner at a Colombian restaurant the next day. We're already planning out the details of our spring break trip to Florida and I'm sure we'll be counting the days come March.

Despite the fact that we're a little under the weather and a few family members short, it will still a nice Christmas. It felt good to just relax and spend the day together, with no particular place to go. I loved seeing the excitement on Wyatt's face when he realized Santa had delivered the loot he asked for and Hadley loved her ONE present she got, too. I don't feel one bit of guilt about not getting her more since our house is already overflowing with toys (I stuffed her stocking with some of Wyatt's old baby toys). She'd rather just watch Wyatt open his presents anyway. Santa was good to the "big kids" too. I received a certificate for a few visits from an eco-friendly cleaning service that uses only non-toxic, kid and pet-friendly products. That Santa isn't half bad!