Christmas Time Is A-Changing

We became accustomed to young children waking us up at 4:00 a.m., then at 4:30 a.m. and then again at 5:00 and perhaps even 5:30. By 6:00 we'd drag our wobbly legs out of bed and gather around the Christmas Tree (often times before our first coffee of the day) squinting at all the bright lights that the children have flicked on at this ridiculous hour of the morning. We help the youngest, whomever that may be at the time, sort and hand out the gifts and the kids proceed to viciously unwrap the long awaited presents.With lots of oooohs, aaahs, thank-you-very-muches, and sometimes tears (usually due to lack of batteries in a particular toy) we make it through our annual Christmas morning ritual.

Things have changed over time and so this year was totally different. Mike was woken up by the canine duo at about 6:30 and took them for a walk. When he returned, he shoveled snow, fed the mutts, made himself a coffee and clicked around on the TV remote only to find himself a '70's movie with Jeff Bridges as an alien and waited patiently for everyone else to get it together. I crawled out of hibernation about 7:15, made myself a coffee and continued working on my crochet basket until, well, whatever it is I'm waiting for, oh yeah, for everybody else to get up. Our oldest worked a night shift and headed home to bed right after his shift this morning and informed us through texts that he won't be arriving at our house until at least noon because he's "dangerously" tired. (I get that!) The other two offspring nonchalantly start their day later in the morning.

When did this all change?

Whatever Christmas morning brings us now is okay. We have to face the facts--our kiddies are growing. We still (eventually) get together by the tree, open our gifts and I can still hear the oooohs, aaaahs and thank-you-very-muches (no more tears, thank goodness). You won't see huge piles of gifts under our tree anymore because many gifts have taken a turn towards the more creative side and are given to their recipients earlier or later than December 25th. (Besides, it was those nasty, battery-sucking toys that hogged all the room under the Christmas Tree.)

And sure, sometimes I miss being with family from other parts of the country but for the most part we enjoy our quiet, low-key little Christmases. We still enjoy a traditional cooked turkey or ham, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce....and don't forget homemade cookies and trail mix. We hang around the house, play games, talk and watch movies (and over eat!)


As I can only hope for grandchildren, like many women my age have already, ahem, I won't put any of that pressure on my own children. Christmases are just changing for us and honestly, if I will be looking for more excitement during the holidays, maybe it's time for giving back to the community .......volunteering at the soup kitchen? ....visiting people at the hospital?

Who knows what future holidays will bring!