We don’t really have a “normal” Christmas yet. We have ideas of how we’d like things to go, but so far we’ve had a first Christmas with a 6 month old who had no idea what was going on, a Christmas where half our family woke up in the hospital, and this one. So we played it a bit by ear. We still had one kid who was utterly confused about what was special about this day, but E was starting to get it.
Our goal was to get the kids to eat breakfast before they got too distracted, so we started our day like any other. We woke up and got the tiny humans from their cribs, and sat down at the table. We didn’t call attention to the presents under the tree, even though that’s usually Christmas 101. Tom and I ignored it completely, actually. We were almost finished eating when E looked up suddenly and shrieked. He started pointing and saying "Presents! PRESENTS! MAMA PRESENTS!"
We let him run around and look at them as we cleaned up. He was so excited, he didn’t even care who the presents were for. He just wanted to open on. He ended up opening a few presents for us before I pointed out his pile of presents. I taught him how to look at the tag to see whose name was on it. He can identify about half his letters now, and he knows the difference between an E for him or a G for his brother. He still didn’t care who the present was for, he wanted to open them all, but afterwards he’d hand the present to whoever’s name was on the tag.
Some presents were opened and they immediately moved on, some got played with. E loved the cooking utensils the most (I mean there was an orange spatula, so that wasn’t unexpected), but animal crackers and puzzles were also a hit. The leaf blower, however, was not. He loves his toy vacuum and this is quieter than that, and he loves to pretend he’s leaf blowing, so it was a hit in theory. But so far he cries every time he sees it, so it was hidden, and then hidden better, and who knows if it will ever get played with. The spatula, however, has been played with every day.
G had no idea what was going on, but the general excitement and stimulation lead to great naps, which was so needed after the nap strikes the past few days. His favorite toy from the day was the tags off a pair of pants. He didn't hate the animal crackers, but didn't love them as much as his brother.
After we opened a few presents, we stopped to bake homemade cinnamon buns with cream cheese frosting (a chance to use the orange spatula!). E loved cooking, of course, but more than that he loved us all sitting down to eat together. G didn't like the cinnamon buns, so I guess he doesn't have a sweet tooth yet? We’ve only just started to let him try them, so I guess that’s not surprising.
More presents, more playing. G napped, E did some art projects with his new Christmas gifts, and played with his doll house. We had decided not to play up the Santa thing too much (he knows who he is and that he’s part of Christmas, just not that he’s supposed to bring the presents), so when E asked where something came from, we said Mama and Dad got it from him, and he would go "Oh thank you, Mama, Dah!" And it was adorable and so worth it.
We all wore our Christmas pjs, and E would run around going "My match Mama! My match baby!" It was super cute. Of course we tried for a picture, but it didn’t go great until I bribed with food and the TV on in the background. It got us the best picture, but it will forever be known as the year I forgot to shut the cabinet door in the background (when I ran to get snacks to bribe with haha). I’m sure it something that will only bug me.
We ordered Chinese food for dinner, partly because we hadn’t gone grocery shopping in a while and didn’t really have a plan, and partly because it feels like that’s what you’re supposed to do on Christmas? Undecided if that’s a tradition in the making or not though. When the delivery person was at the door, E ran down the hall and peeked around Tom and said "Hi!" to the person. While we were eating (he stole the entire order of scallion pancakes by the way), we taught him how to open fortune cookies. He loved it and kept miming opening a cookie and asking for more. He ended up opening them all, and also got to eat his first cookie, as did G.
The day passed by super quickly, but also we didn't do anything that felt big. It was still largely a normal day for us (except with presents). I’m not sure what we need to do to make the day feel magical, but it’s possible the answer is nothing? Looking back at my own Christmases, I think the presents and being home with my family was enough to create the magic?
