Christmas at a glance

The past two Christmases have left me feeling a little lacking in the area of making and keeping holiday traditions. Christmas traditions are important to me. I feel like I had a childhood that was rich with holiday traditions and I've always attempted to cram our own Christmases full of as much tradition as possible. But last year, with Paul on the other side of the country for the majority of the season and this year, with a new baby, there just hasn't been a whole lot of time for Christmas cheer. Boo. This year, there was very little Christmas shopping done, no traditional treats baked to deliver to friends, no kiddie parties hosted, no visit to the famous Christmas lights house in Mauldin, no visit with the neighborhood Santa, no gingerbread house decorated, and I even skipped hanging the wreaths on our windows for goodness sake. Bah humbug.
As the days ticked down to Christmas, I was feeling a bit blue for all the missed opportunities. But alas, Christmas did come and brought its own cheer. Traditionally, our Christmases are quite chaotic, beginning Christmas Eve morn. If there is a downside to living in our hometown with all of our family living nearby, it is that there are so many people to visit on the holidays. This year Claire and I stayed home from the Christmas Eve family lunch simply because with so many youngsters, someone was bound to have something contagious. In the evening, we attempted to visit the house o' lights in Mauldin, but just like our failed attempt on a previous Christmas Eve, they had chosen not to have the lights on that night (due to a soggy yard). Next we headed over to Paul's parents' house where, per tradition, I did not take any pictures. I had even brought my camera with me this time. It was a nice quiet evening spent with only a handful of family members and eating yummy food. The boys didn't want to go home, but Paul convinced them that if we left right then, they might be able to catch Buddy the Elf and Peter the Elf when they came to make their usual bedtime doorstep delivery. Luckily for Bud and Pete, they had already come by while we were out and the boys had fun playing with the little Christmas tree they, along with Claire's elf, James, left.

Next, there was reindeer food to be scattered upon the lawn and Christmas jammies to be received. Then little ones were nestled snugly in their beds.

By the time I got to the boys' room on Christmas morning, they had already discovered the stockings the elves left at the foot of their beds. They had excitedly gone through the contents in the dark of their room. When I asked them about it later, Sam told me that Nathanael had immediately gone through his and said to Sam "I got a toothbrush! Open yours!" To which Sam replied "I don't think we are supposed to do that" (that sweet boy knows his mother all too well). Finally he caved to the peer pressure of his brother who coerced him with "go on, open it!" And so, when I busted into their room, video camera in hand to capture the first magical moment of Christmas morning, I found, there in the darkness, two excited boys, stocking contents dumped upon their beds, and Nathanael walking around the room with the stocking on his leg. The boys headed down the stairs to discover their letter from Santa and opened up their gifts before donning their elfin duds to be worn over to the Eddy family Christmas.