This Christmas followed a very similar pattern to those that have come before. Jason and I spent a whole lot of time with family and reserved a bit to ourselves. We lavished each other with more gifts than we probably should have with no regrets. We ate a few too many cookies but not enough to grow our rumps. We found delight in the wonders of the season and joy in our togetherness. It was Christmas as it should be though I wouldn’t have complained if it had been a little less busy.
My family’s Christmas Eve tradition when I was growing up was ordering pizza and driving around to look at Christmas lights. I loved this when I was a kid. This year my sister was feeling nostalgic for those Christmas Eves gone by so at the last minute my kinfolk, or those that live in these parts, got together for a few hours on that magical night. We gorged ourselves on pizza and then settled in contentedly for the evening’s entertainment: holiday music performed by my sister’s family and the Christmas story read by my dad.
Christmas morning Jason and I refused to see anyone but ourselves. We made healthy black bean breakfast burritos and opened gifts to each other. After that leisurely start we jumped on the family fast-track. We opened gifts with the Sabins and then hit present time at my family’s. At both places, when the fierce gift giving had subsided, heaps of disemboweled wrapping paper reached as far as the eye could see. With the constant exposure to such graphic displays, it’s no wonder that I have become desensitized to the suffering of gift wrap.
Our Christmas this year was a bit more hectic than we would have liked but not as hectic as some previous Christmases have been. Nonstop family exposure is part of the seasonal package and we have a lot of family to expose so I doubt Jason and I will ever get as mellow of a Christmas as we desire. While a relaxing Christmas Day remains one of our unlived fantasies, Jason and I are grateful for the nearness of so many relatives. Without them our Christmas would be peaceful but our lives would be lacking. Here’s to another season celebrated like crazy!