I woke up first at 8 am with Isaiah. After I put some cranberry, pecan, sage yeast bread in the oven and made some tea I sent Isaiah in to wake up the kids. It's one of his favorite jobs. Then the kids explored thier stocking contents together.
Isaiah pushed around the shopping cart santa brought him (a six-dollar thrift store find!). The big kids snuggled the stuffed animals that played "You are my Sunshine" and "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?".
Then everyone pounced on Daddy. The kids wanted to open thier presents to each other first. They had made and packaged them all by themselves. Dorathea got a lego necklace and beaded bracelet. Jonathan got a hat with a D made pom pom on top.
We tried the four present only rule of "something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read." They sadly told friends that was all they were getting this year. But on Christmas morning they seemed to enjoy it. I picked out books that reminded me of them. "Vader's little Jedi" for Jonathan, "El Deafo" for Dorathea and "Mysteries of the Middle Ages" for Ted. I wrote a little note in each one about why it reminded me of them.
Dorathea opened a jacket I sewed bunny ears onto for her.
We all just took our time and had a lot of fun.
For lunch we snacked on a tray of veggies and cocktail shrimp with a garlic ginger dip. Ted and I found the recipe in Cookbook from my Grandmother written by overseas army wives in the sixties.
We finished the day by watching a Christmas music special from my alma mater Berea College.
Dinner was a feast of; pineapple ham, mashed potatoes and cauliflower, green beans, and leftover stuffing and sweet potato casserole I squirreled away in the freezer from Thanksgiving (a trick I will definitely do again!).
It was nice to be together and relax. Tomorrow we are hoping to roll ourselves outside for a hike and some tennis! - Dorathea got a new raquet from her dad!
Hope all of you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas too!
love the Keys family!!!
