I was the first one up in the morning. Babydoll and Babalouie were so worn out, they slept past 8:00! I got up and made coffee before I heard anything stir in the house.
When they did awake, they waited for their parent’s permission before leaving the little bedroom. I was in the kitchen when they emerged. They made a beeline for the fireplace and the presents Santa left them. Neither kid so much as glanced over their right shoulder into the living room, where the tree was rising like a volcano out of the ocean of gifts.
Santa gave each of them their heart’s desire: a Barbie Unicorn for Babydoll, to go with her stable of ‘glass’ horses and a kid-sized drum set for Babalouie, which he began playing even as his dad read the directions for construction. In no time, the set was together and Babalouie was regaling us with his rhythmic talent.
Both kids were perfectly delighted with Christmas and played with their new things for nearly an hour before I said to Babydoll “Do you know what we’re going to do when Katie and Adam get here?”
“No!” she said.
“Look in there.” I pointed toward the living room. She finally looked toward the tree, which she’d forgotten even existed. Her eyes, pretty big under all circumstances, opened wide.
“Whoa.” She said.
Adam and Katie arrived around ten, as Jay was making a huge brunch for all. We opened presents.
Despite our attempts not to go overboard with gifts, of course we did. It wasn’t as ridiculous as last year but opening presents still took over two hours. Good thing none of us had anything better to do.
I’m not sure what activity would be preferable to exchanging and opening Christmas presents but apparently some folks like to get that part over as quickly as possible. Not us! We like to see what everyone got and we’d hate to miss anyone’s reaction to the gift we chose for them.
On that count, it was a very successful year; wonderful gifts were exchanged, including one of the best I’ve ever received: the means to fulfill a dream I’ve had for years to own an original artwork by one of my favorite painters!
Babalouie acted like every single gift he received was something he’d been pining for his whole life! After the drum set, he also got a Captain America action figure, which he held over his head and sang the theme song for; a pair of nike basketball shoes, which he immediately put on over his footie pajamas and asked me to set up his hoop; then a nerf football, which he tucked under his arm and proceeded to run in slow motion through the wrapping paper strewn field of the living room, looking like he was posing for the Heisman trophy. That boy really knows how to accept a present! His big sister got lots of nice things, too but she seemed more delighted to be hanging out with her aunts, Katie and Josie, than with any of the stuff she was accumulating. It was a perfect Christmas morning.
The brunch was out of this world, too. In addition to your breakfast staples, Jay cooked up a big pan full of venison summer sausage a friend gave him.
By noon, it was pouring rain outside. Very strange weather. We already had over a foot of snow and one week earlier the temps dipped 20 degrees below zero but for Christmas, it was above freezing and the rain wouldn’t stop. At least it didn’t freeze; that would have been horrid.
Babalouie went down for a nap while his parents ran back to the ranch to care for the horses.
After they returned, we packed up several cars and headed to my brother Bill’s house for the Hubbell Christmas party.
There were at least 45 of us at the party. Bill and Jen have a gorgeous, open house that is made for entertaining. The giant center island in the kitchen was covered with food of all descriptions, the dining room had extra tables set up and the buffet was covered with cookies and candy. People were everywhere. Gifts were exchanged after dinner was over.
All us kids had chipped in to buy my folks a watercolor by Rick Kochenash, whom my mom has known and admired for years. It’s really fun to give people something they’ll really love!
All the little kids spent most of the evening downstairs, where the lower level is also huge, open and perfect for the impromptu game of nerf football.
Before we knew it, it was ten o’clock and lots of us oldsters were cracking yawns. Some of the youngsters were equally exhausted. The party was great fun but we didn’t want to stay till the rain outside turned to ice.
Another wonderful Christmas was ready for the record books.
It wasn’t till two days later I realized I’d forgotten to watch How the Ghosts Stole Christmas. Oh well.
Merry Christmas!