We go to Steve's parents' after church on Christmas Eve and have dinner and then open gifts from them. Maria and Jeremy will be there, too. It's always nice to visit with them. We get up very early on Christmas Day after Santa has visited. We always discover unwrapped surprises from the big bearded guy. Then we open gifts from each other while we sit around in our jammies and drink hot cocoa. My parents will come up from Golden Valley in the late morning. We'll have breakfast and then share more gifts. Then we all go to Steve's parents' house for a fancy Christmas dinner.
This year we brought presents to the Salvation Army. Each of the kids picked out a gift that they, themselves, would like to have and they bought it for another child their age. We delivered them yesterday and had a tour of the food shelf and learned a little about how other people live. It was a good experience for my (mostly self-centered) kids.
We also had each of our own kids pick another kid's name from a hat (literally - a Central High School Football hat) and they bought a gift for that other kid in the family. The 'secret' part of the 'secret Santa' didn't last long, but it was fun anyway.
Christmas is so much fun with those kids! I just love Christmas. This year we have lots of snow - and more falling right now.
