One more post on Christmas?  The other post was just pictures…Overall, Christmas day was great.  Tiring but great.  Worth seeing all the smiles on the kids’ faces.  I picked each and every gift with great care and to see the happiness on their face was nice.  I know my kids.  Even the teen who is the hardest to shop for right now.

We spent the morning together, our family tradition, before having my parents and brother’s family come over.  Mass was wonderful as always, no crowds and our favorite priest presiding.

It was a bit harder this year to keep the kids away from their gifts, but we stand by our decision to open gifts after mass and to go mass on Christmas Day rather than Christmas Eve.  Honestly, I don’t think I could handle the crowds on Christmas Eve.  You should never be miserable during Mass especially when celebrating the birth of Christ.  And going to mass an hour early just to get a seat?  Never. Going. To. Happen.

Best part of Christmas Day was Squirt saying, “hey, we forgot to put Jesus in the manger this year.”  I had to tell him he was still sleeping when we did that.  He made it clear that next year I better wake him up.  Traditions…they mean something to my kids too.  Which is making me rethink my plan to move stockings to St. Nicholas Day because as the kids said this year, “it’s tradition to open the stockings first.”