Nothing beats Christmas morning with young kids.
However, before we could enjoy it, we had to make sure both kids were asleep at a reasonable time Christmas Eve night. We were concerned because both boys had been staying up later recently since there was no school.
Around 9 p.m. after already falling asleep in his bed, we heard Carson emerge from his room and barge into Beckett’s across the hall. Beckett was still awake and playing his last video game of the night when Carson crawled in his bed and pulled the covers up over his head. By the time Pam got upstairs, he had made himself quite comfortable in his big brother’s bed. He wasn’t getting out without a fight even with the mentions of Santa Claus is watching and few references to Norad’s location of him.
It took some convincing on our part for Beckett to share his bed with his little brother but he did so reluctantly. Santa played a big part in that coercion. About an hour later, I got my favorite photo of this Christmas. It was our two sons asleep together in the same bed with Carson’s arm laying across Beckett’s back.
I like to think Carson was so excited he couldn’t sleep and that he found comfort in falling asleep next to his big brother. His reasoning could be altogether different but that’s what I’m going with.
Two nights later when Carson tried the same thing, he didn’t get the same warm reception from Beckett. That was understandable and brought on a new challenge for the parents of the house to try and find a fix for in quick fashion. That’s a story for another day.
Indeed there’s really nothing like Christmas morning. It’s changing for sure with my kids now 9 and 8 years old, respectively, but there’s a magic to it all. To me, much of it has to do with the gift of giving and watching their reactions when they open something that was unexpected.
With Santa, the kids expect their wish list items reported while sitting on the jolly one’s lap to be answered. In most cases, they were safe with their assumptions. There are limitations, of course, as Santa did not meet Beckett’s chief wish to transform his backyard trampoline into a professional wrestling ring complete with ropes and turnbuckles.
The gifts sure have changed over the years. By and large, they have gotten smaller and more expensive. That’s a noticeable difference as they have gotten older. Gone for the most part are the big wheels and large toys that require construction, allowing for much more room under and around the Christmas tree this year. There was once nowhere to sit in the room where our tree is situated, but this year it wasn’t a problem. Fortunately, neither kid recognized that.
I woke up Christmas morning to Pam already up and brewing coffee. Before I could look outside our bedroom, I heard footsteps and immediately knew it was Carson.
I watched as he turned on the downstairs light to sneak a peek and see if Santa came from his elevated vantage point. Although he denied it, he saw his biggest gift – a handmade train table – but he pretended to be surprised later. Instead, he ran directly back into bed and hid under the covers. When I assured him everything was fine and it was okay to be up at 6 a.m. on Christmas, he was beyond excited to get going.
Before running down stairs, he ran back into Beckett’s room and slapped his bunkmate on the head to get him up and rolling. Rather than lovingly, it was more along the lines of what are you doing sleeping on Christmas morning at this hour.
Within a half hour, we were in present mode. They read their letters from their elf and Santa and marveled over his appetite as the plate of cookies were nearly all gone.
Gratitude was the theme of the day at our house. As they opened their gifts, we reminded them every now and again how fortunate they are and how it was critical for them to be aware of their blessings in addition to the true meaning of the season.
I was happy to notice Beckett after opening a few gifts wanted his mom to open a present from me. I had mentioned it to him privately a few days before and he promised he could keep a secret. Since he was starting to drop some significant clues, I figured I had better give it to her. It was concert tickets to a musician on her bucket list.
Once she had opened her surprise, Beckett went right back to opening his gifts in mad fashion along with Carson, who only gave Santa one request. He wanted trains. His wish was answered with a new train table and several more miles of train track to satisfy his inner engineer who loves building and designing different train villages and routes.
To make our day complete, we got some exercise in a neighborhood kickball game that ended after an hour in a tie (or at least that was the score in my head).
It was a great Christmas, especially in light of the fact we know the magic will not last forever. We realize we have to embrace these days.
