The Ups and Downs of Christmas Day

The fallout of the very late arrival night started to show its cracks on Christmas Eve. The cracks broke wide open on Christmas day. Uff da! The behavior and attitudes were not our holiday finest. But after a strongly worded "come to Jesus" meeting about expectations, we reset life and the day. I feel like that is noteworthy, because there was a time not too many years ago when once a day went sideways, it was rarely recoverable. 

The girls woke up a little after 7am, but Dec was still sleeping. He had been up in the middle of the night with a bloody nose, so was pretty tired. The ladies and I went upstairs and watched Kids Baking Championship with Gma and Gpa until Dec, Mike, and Auntie emerged. Just before 8am, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and passed out the stockings. 

Declan was thrilled to discover a new Sonic winter hat, the Sonic movie, and Pokemon cards in his stocking. He was also delighted that our elf Tyler had passed along his message that Gpa should get Pokemon cards too, so that they could trade. Gpa seemed very "excited" about his cards ... Quinn got the most perfect new shirt that says "I skate like a girl. Try to keep up" and a buffalo plaid dress. Fiona found ear muffs and perfumed body spray, which she deemed to be very fitting of being big. 

The present opening was fun and relaxed. We didn't have any firm plans for the day, so there was no rush. Everyone seemed very happy with their gifts. My dad tried out his new leaf blower. Mike set up his new outdoor movie screen and projector. My mom wore her new fleece and earrings. Auntie and I tested out our new slippers. Dec was thrilled with his beyblade stadium from Auntie, Quinn crawled into her giant wheeled hockey bag, and Fiona was delighted by the surprise of modeling clay.

It was a really nice day outside (much warmer than Christmas Eve), so we talked to Auntie Tracey and decided to make the trip up to see her family and use the lake skating rink that Uncle Kyle and Ben had been working on! We typically spend Christmas day with them, but had all agreed that there would be no inside parties this year. However, we were hoping the weather would cooperate for some outside fun. 

The afternoon was lovely and the ice was great. But the attitudes were ... ugh. I should say mostly the girls' attitudes. Dec had a blast skating with Ben and ice fishing with Mike. I think his favorite part of the day was schooling his big 17-year-old cousin on skating skills. The neighbor also has a rink, so Ben and Kyle got D to skate full speed from one end of the rink to the other, jump the pump bump between the two, and keep skating to the other end of the second rink. Dec did it over and over and thought it was such fun. Ben was a great sport and watching them made me so happy. However, the rotten attitudes took their toll and Mike and I eventually voted to call it a day. We were willing to give a little grace because we knew everyone was tired. But we made the point that we were unimpressed.

After another delicious dinner from Grandma, we did a Zoom call to open presents with Auntie Tracey/family and Gpa V. The kids were not well-behaved. We ended that call and I led the aforementioned "come to Jesus" discussion. The point was made, because our next Zoom call with Gma and Gpa N went much better! 

After our Zoom Christmases, we bundled up for our annual moonlight walk through the woods. I had stated earlier in the week that everyone would be self-propelled this year. Somehow I was overruled and when I got outside, there were three kids in sleds. Auntie also wondered how she wound up pulling a human through the woods! Maybe next year will be the Year of Self Propulsion. Or the year that Auntie stages a mutiny. 

It was a lovely night and we had so much fun out in the woods. It was just what everyone needed to reset. The kids did a bunch of sledding, Mike and Quinn got way ahead of the rest of us so obviously hid behind trees to leap out and scare us, and as is also tradition, Declan slid into a tree. I'm so glad we were able to end the day on a high note, because ultimately, that is how we will remember it.