the squibix family blog

The boys and I were out until 9:30 at church Christmas Eve, so it was a slow morning for Zion (the only one of us capable of staying asleep as long as he needs to in the morning). Rascal knocked over his stocking to get at the bone within at around 6, but the rest of us managed to wait for Zion before we opened up our stockings. Then, with breakfast awaiting us and Grandma and Grandpa's, it was straight on to the presents under the tree.

I made a sword for Lijah and a new, bigger and better musket for Zion; that present Harvey is opening above is a wooden treasure chest that I fixed and filled with Legos from the attic (Harvey's dream is to bring them all down one day). Leah got a box to hold spices in the cabinet, and a promise of more; she sewed me a CD holder for the car. But the best presents were the ones Harvey and Zion gave Mama.

We got $1 frames at the craft store which they decorated with paint and mod-podge, but the real value of the gift came from the care the boys took in picking out the photos. Harvey had the idea of doing a baby picture, but seeing himself as a baby thought he looked too nondescript, so he upgraded to the one-year-old version. Zion wanted one of himself as a one-year-old camping in Maine. We looked through a lot of pictures together.

Besides the home-made presents and old legos there were also some new lego sets. The boys put them together while snacking on gingerbread and pickles.

Then it was on to Lexington, where the ceilings are higher and the tree bigger. I asked Harvey and Zion to sit in front of the tree for a picture; Lijah heard me and joined in.

He's totally old enough to know what's going on this year, and he was enthusiastic about opening presents (and then about opening packaging and so on, until he had everything reduced to its component parts).

The bigger boys enjoyed getting gifts too, but Harvey especially was also excited about the giving side of things. He had an instant vision for Grandpa's present when I first asked him about it a couple weeks ago: he wanted to illustrate a summer day. So he did, and he was justifiably proud of the result.

Besides the beautiful tree and abundant delicious food (which it would have been crass to photograph, and besides I was busy eating) my parents' house is also wonderfully suited to Christmas observances because they have a fireplace. Lijah helped tend the fire.

I must also note that Grandma and Grandpa entertained the boys wonderfully: Leah and I took a long walk together, just the two of us (well, with Rascal) which was a pretty nice present on its own!

After a long day of celebrating everybody was pretty tired, but when Grandpa started playing the Nutcracker on the piano Lijah still had enough energy to dance.

A great end to a delightful Christmas day!