Christmas Morning

"It's Christmas!, It's Christmas!" the children shout gleefully. "shhhhhhhhh....yes yes we know" Tim and I say in return with about as much enthusiasm as Ben Stein. "Be quiet and get back in your rooms and don't come out until I come and get you ok?" It's 6am and that means I've gotten all of about 5 hours of sleep. But I won't make the same mistake we made last year. We told the kids to go back to their rooms and give us 10 minutes to get up and get ready. We drifted off back to sleep and awoke to the sounds of joyful yelling and high five-ing coming from downstairs. By the time we got halfway down the stairs the kids were racing towards us with UNWRAPPED gifts in hand saying "look what I got!, look what I got!" AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Of course we KNEW what they got! But what we live for, what makes it all worth it is that momentary split-second look they have when they unwrap and see their wished for gift for the first time!!!! And.......we missed it!! BRATS all of them! Morgan was the ring leader last year and so this year I kept special care not to let her escape from her room. I threw on some pants and shook Tim's shoulder. "Get up get up remember last year?!" "You kids stay right where you are, hold your hands high where I can see them. Don't make a move." Mom and dad had spent the night and so we had to wait for them to get ready as well. I make a big deal about being prepared to see the unveiling of the gifts because there are literally only 4 gifts to "unveil" Each child only gets 1 gift each and so there's no long drawn out process of unwrap-squeal with glee-show off-on to the next one- repeat, repeat, repeat... We let Monica go first - a baby crib and baby stroller (ok so I bent the one gift rule for her but they came together...) Then Collin - 2 guns (again, they went together kind of...) Then Mary Grace - her own camera. Then Morgan - a guitar. It lasted all of five minutes. There aren't any presents for Tim and I. None for mom and dad either. That's it - that's all folks!! But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. The materialism and consumerism of this culture are corrupting kids. It's a sickness almost. Our kids have PLENTY and going overboard just makes them self-centered and shallow. Hopefully they'll look back on their Christmas 's and remember the fun we had together and the great breakfasts we ate and how much we laughed together and not feel like we begrudged them the "stuff" they might have wanted.