It drives me nuts when I can’t write, especially at a time like this. The morning came quickly and we were swept up into the Christmas action. That makes it sound hectic which it wasn’t. Josh and I woke up and rolled out of bed around 7:30. The kids were still asleep except for Elianna who was dressed up on the couch in this fun Rudolph costume/onesie which she bought while on vacation with Miles. I didn’t it notice at first because the lights were still dim and she was curled up resting quietly.

It my rushing around I didn’t have a chance to thoughtfully write about her and one of the boys and how much they helped with the kitchen preparations. My daughter practically made the entire Christmas brunch meal. She takes care of the cinnamon rolls starting yesterday morning with the mixing of the dough. She made the breakfast casseroles that were ready to go this morning.

Sometimes you have these moments where you almost feel too blessed. Like I feel so humbled to have a daughter who would do all this for me without me really even asking. Christmas with bigger kids is so so different. I don’t why I feel guilty at times making them do things like clean up the dishes. The other three boys were in charge of cleaning up after eating and I told them it wasn’t a punishment, it was distribution of labor. Doing everything for them at some point is just not needed anymore.

I’m always the one who’s more emotional about Christmas. It’s the child, there’s always one, who I felt was overlooked. There’s the passing of time and the fleeting hold between everything wrapped and everything opened. There was somehow feeling hurt after Uncle Glenn and I negotiated the time of when to open the kids’ presents. There was the cemetery visit before going to Grandma’s.

We had a good time there, and all day. My brother and sister left mid-morning to head back down to my mom and dad’s. Uncle Glenn came for lunch and hung out for the afternoon. At my mother-in-law’s we opened presents and enjoyed a lighter snacky type meal. She didn’t do as many presents this year, two a piece after feeling like she needed to cut back. Laura came over and my father-in-law’s sister also came by. They started working on a guest list. By around 9 we were here again, grateful for home.