Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone. A rocky start, but it has turned out to be a good day.

An early morning for me started with Kendall running into our room and trying to take Tia up at 6. This was followed shortly, but Delaney making his attempt. As has almost become tradition, the kids run downstairs, check out the presents under the tree, and then begin coming into our room and waking us up. Or at least trying to. The parents are usually tired, and resist to some extent.

The kids don't give up, running back downstairs to see what else they might glean from the packaging and come back, increasingly insistent. This morning I heard Tia tell them a few times to give us until 7, as I tried to find some way to get a few more minutes of sleep. I'm sick this year, fighting a cold, so every minute of sleep helps. When I heard Tia get up, I decided to give up for now and head down.

Kids almost bouncing up and down as they try to distribute presents to people, taking a few minutes in between their errands whenever they find something for themselves. In that case, they rip off the paper.Kendall jumped up and down a few times when she got some books that she'd wanted, and a bow and arrow. In fact, I need to head outside shortly and set up a target for her.

Delaney and Kyle were thrilled to have new cell phones, upgrading from basic old "phones" to new touch screens. They really lucked out there, and hopefully they will enjoy those phones for some time to come. I got a new chair (sitting in it now, about to work) and Tia got a new keyboard tray, hopefully making both of our work lives easier.

It was a quieter Christmas than some in the past, no real amazing gifts or things that the kids were dying to have. Kendall especially didn't have any great gift, and was a little disappointed at first. I think the initial excitement wore off and she was expecting a bigger pile of gifts. However a little encouragement from Tia and the chance to play with a few things helped her get back in the Christmas spirit.

Tia and I both took naps for about 3 hours and when we got up, everyone was happy again.