Christmas Day

We had been to a lovely, reflective, Christmas Eve service and got home quite late. I was sure this meant a sleepy morning--but no. So the children were up at 7:00 and through the stockings by 7:30. We came downstairs and opened the gifts which we, and others, had given to the children.In an effort to maintain an appropriate balance and emphasis, our tradition has become to give each child one individual present and then one group present. This year, Lydia received a "light wedge"--it's a sort of fancier type of reading light so that she can read in bed. Abigail (the artist) received prismacolor colored pencils for her artwork. Philip received inflatable punching gloves and a punching bag. Simeon got a xylophone. Their group gift was a set of walkie-talkies (mostly so that I can communicate with them when they are out in the woods!); they are a big hit.
Christmas lunchtime came around 1:30 p.m. My sister and her family came, as well as my parents and Aunty Chris. We have had our friend, Ms. Sara, to our home now for 5 years on Christmas. She lives in a local nursing home facility. She said that she thoroughly enjoyed our time. She's very gracious!
While she was here, we had three Skype visits: one from my cousin Bethan and her family in Wales--it was so chaotic that I could hardly hear her, but it was nice to see she and her family nonetheless. The second call was to my sister-in-law and nephew in Hawaii. They were celebrating in their shorts and sleeveless dress! The third call was from Afghanistan; from my brother stationed there. It was good, but hard, to see his face and know he is so far from his family.
My family has the English tradition of opening Christmas crackers, wearing the silly hats and quizzing each other with the corny jokes. It's fun, and hey, it's tradition. Here's the donning of the hats--or in the case of my nephew, his hair was already blue so he didn't need one!
Another tradition is to have Christmas pudding. It's massively rich, and because it is so, we have small pieces and pour heavy whipping cream over it! Yes, good thing I don't have to get my cholesterol checked soon.

Exhausting, but lovely day. Lydia said, "Mommy, you got us really nice gifts. Thank you." And on my pillow was a little handwritten note from Abigail (signed for all the kids) thanking me for the gifts. Kevin and I discussed why they hadn't thanked him; they have a lot to learn about family economics!