Everyone looks forward to Christmas. Children set out plates of cookies and mugs of milk for Santa, and when they wake up they have new toys in boxes, which are then wrapped in decorative paper and then placed under a real/fake tree. It sounds ridiculous when you talk about it that way, but really for many people, it's the most magical time of the year.
This year, family was really different for my family. We have always been lucky to have each other, and everyday we think about this. This year, my Mom was bummed when she found out she had to work on Christmas. She was really worried that we would all be upset on Christmas, were we sad that we wouldn't have the whole day together, but we worked it out.
The morning started when we woke up at around 6 A.M. all eager to go upstairs. The night before, we (four of my sisters and I.) had all slept in the basement together, as we have done every year since I can remember. When we finally were aloud to go upstairs we were all shocked, but excited to see 5 "Ugly Dolls" lined up on the couch. (Check out the "Ugly Dolls" here.)
Laughter continued as we passed each other various presents. My sisters and I had put together a movie date basket for our parents, and we were extremely happy when they opened it and became excited for their date. The morning was a lot of fun, and after we had thoroughly made a mess of the living room, we played with our new "toys" and "gadgets".
We were spending as much time together as we could until my mom had to go to work at 8 A.M. We laughed, smiled, and sometimes freaked out, as we opened the various exciting presents. That's not what mattered most to us though. All we wanted was to spend time together, so we spent the morning laughing and talking together.
Sadly, 8 A.M. approached a lot faster than we expected, and before we knew it, we were giving our mom hugs and saying goodbye, wishing her a good day at work, and that we'd see her at 6, maybe sooner if she got off early. Then we cleaned up the mess of boxes, papers, ribbons, plastic, and various other trash then headed off to our cousins house.
When we got there we were met by screams of joy and surprise from our cousins, as well as their screaming as they try to be heard above one another. Because there is five of us, there were plenty of us to go around as our cousins, ages 5, 9 (I think), and 13, eagerly showed us their presents.
Several hours went by, and we were saying goodbye to our cousins to head to our grandmas house about 20-30 minutes away. When we got there, we were greeted by the sweet surprise of our mom getting off early, We spent a few more hours there laughing with cousins and aunts and uncles then headed home.
Even though today was different than usual, it was still a lot of fun, and I got to see my family. I am so grateful for them. I couldn't have asked for a better day. Thanks Mom and Bill!
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