Ah, it was a nice day! The first gift was- I slept until 9:30!!!! Gone are the days where the kids wake us up at dawn, phew. We all got up and opened presents! We like to open them one by one, although the kids have more than the adults so by the end it’s just them taking turns.
Highlights for me included my Christmas book flood:
My son also brought home the second and third books of the Cixin Liu trilogy, and is insisting I read them right away. And, my library hold on The Wedding People came through a couple days ago, and I have to read that first since it’s a library book. Phew! I think I should take the week off of work and just read (heh heh.)
My son got me this:
i literally gasped when I opened it, and tears came to my eyes. He put together a photo calendar with pictures of our family (and lots of photos of the cats.) What an amazing gift!
Here’s one of his favorite gifts:
It’a a blanket with photos of both our cats on it. He loves it, and is going to take it back to school with him. He really misses the cats when he’s away!
Breakfast for the family was cinnamon rolls:
And I had oatmeal. But I put gingerbread spices in, and added toasted pecans and Lily’s (sugar free) chocolate chips.
I read on the couch for a while and then dozed off. I love a good couch nap! When I woke up it was time for the Christmas charcuterie board:
…and then we watched a little football. We never, ever go anywhere on Christmas Day. The days leading up to Christmas are always so crazy, it’s a relief to just stay home and relax.
Later in the afternoon I made dinner:
We always have lasagna for Christmas dinner, with garlic bread and this year, Brussels sprouts (my daughter had a salad instead of the sprouts.)
After dinner, the Christmas chaos that originally looked fun and festive started to look depressing…
I cleaned it up (well, partially- I threw away the trash and shoved all the gifts back under the tree, to be dealt with another day.) And then, I had to fight off that sad, sad “Christmas is over” feeling. But no! This is just the FIRST DAY of Christmas, right? We’ll still have festive food, more cookie baking, and even more presents, because I got several gift cards (REI, Old Navy, and Bath and Body Works.) Let the festivities continue!
Do you like to go somewhere on Christmas Day, or stay at home?
Do you have a traditional Christmas breakfast?
27 Responses
I am glad you got to sleep in on Christmas! The boys slept until 7 and 8! We were out past their bedtimes on Christmas Eve so they were extra tired. We always stay home on Christmas.
Our Christmas Day was a little sad since I did not feel well but last night I asked Paul how he would rate it from 1 to 10 and he gave it a 10 so he still had a great holiday and was kind of oblivious to the fact that I was not feeling well. He slept with the Vikings football that he got from his grandma. 🙂 He will lose his mind when he finds out my parents got him a Justin Jefferson jersey! I am feeling better so we will head to my parents this morning.
You know- if the kids rate it a 10 out of 10, I’m happy. Figures they would be oblivious to the fact that you were sick! Glad you’re feeling better today.
My hubby is a scrooge. LOL
We don’t exchange gifts anymore since we don’t need anything. The kids are adults and do their own thing. I already gave my granddaughter her gifts.
We went to my MIL and had a nice dinner (take out ziti). We got gifts cards to Delmonicos and will use them to go out to dinner on NYE.
I love that Calendar and the blanket. I may do that for my hubby one year.
Yes! The blanket is so easy, I got it on etsy. They also do pajamas and socks.
That calendar is a labor of love… I would have cried too. And I would keep it forever. I’m glad to hear your Christmas was lovely and full of love.
No more kids waking us up here either–I have to wake them up :). Our traditional breakfast is a custardy pudding that has croissants as a base, and our usual dinner is biriyani.
I didn’t think about that, but I’m sure I won’t be able to discard that calendar! Your breakfast AND dinner both sound amazing.
Sleeping until 9:30 sounds amazing! It’s not unusual for the boys to sleep past noon on days when they don’t have to get up, but they got up around 10 yesterday.
We did a special Christmas breakfast last year, but we skipped it this year. The problem is that we have big dinners on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so having a big ol’ spread for breakfast was too much on top of too much. I think we need to find another random day in the year to let loose with a special breakfast.
Team Lasagna for Christmas Dinner here as well! We meet up with all the family for a big meal, and we get takeout lasagna from a really good Italian restaurant.
I think your special breakfast day should be Boxing Day! Of course, that might still be too much after all the meals of Christmas. But a special meal on Boxing Day would be fun.
We have a pretty standard menu for the few days before/after Christmas and everyone loves all the food so it was lots of fun.
Reading this post was SO WONDERFUL. I love the calendar and the book flood and the blanket and the food. It looks like a lovely Christmas spent together as a family.
It really was lovely! I wish it were longer- Christmas should last at least two days.
sleep until 930 sounds glorious! and all those gifts! what a fun day! I love that your son made the calendar for you, how thoughtful!
we almost never stay at home for Christmas, always somewhere to explore during this time of the year. but i love the idea of truly rest, reading and eating good food.
I’m sure there are plenty of places to explore, but we’re not energetic enough on Christmas to do it! But you guys are on a fun trip- if I were in New Zealand right now I would be out and about too.
The opening photo with the cat looking unimpressed next to the present. LOL!
What amazing presents. I make a photo calendar for both my parents and my in-laws every year and they are very much appreciated. Can I ask where you got the cat faces blanket from?! My kids would go crazy for that. I’d love to know where to order one.
Merry Christmas! And Happy Boxing Day!
I ordered it on Etsy! There are a whole bunch of different people selling them and they’re probably all similar. I’ll get the name of our place and leave it in your comment section. Happy Boxing Day!
Lovely all around. And I adore christmases with little kids, but the extra sleep sounds heavenly, and I am excitedf for the next phase.
You can’t beat Christmases with little kids. But, that phase can’t last forever and it’s good to know that there are good things about the later phases as well.
Muffin and Charlotte are so loved. I love how that comes out in this post. KITTIES FOREVER.
The best Christmas of my life was 2020 when I could just stay home and no one gave me a guilt trip over it. We have very stressful holidays trying to get to places and still make sure the dog gets outside and I hate it. I’d love to just have a leisurely day, but I also really love watching my niblings open presents. Eh. We’ll just keep on keeping on, I guess.
Yes, running around on Christmas Day seems stressful to me. But, it is a day for family. I guess we’re lucky in a way that we don’t have any family nearby, so it’s just the four of us.
Hooray for sleeping late and snoozing on the couch. The calendar – that photo on the cover looks like a professions photograph. I love a calendar filled with photos. The mess aftermath is annoying. Everyone seemed pleased/delighted with their gifts. For years and years we went to my folks’ house, but they live around the corner so that was easy. I hosted the last few years – not easy, but so worth it. The parties were a huge success. Our kitchen addition makes entertaining a big crowd totally doable. This year my sis Ann hosted. Only 15 minutes away, but her place is not big enough for our size group and my kids have all requested that I host again next year. I started a tradition of a big breakfast back when Lad was about 2 years old. I make egg dishes and an apple puff pancake dish. It’s just us, and I love it. We have eaten after gifts, but lately the kids are old enough that they prefer to sleep in and eat before gifts.
Whoa- we haven’t reached that point. We still eat after gifts, although I will say that this year my stomach was rumbling in the middle of opening. My husband was also mumbling something about coffee while we were opening- maybe next year we should start with hot beverages, then gifts, then breakfast.
Aww what a lovely relaxing day – I love the calendar and the cat blanket – so thoughtful and we are a “cat family” too so I get it. My hubby would love something with our cat’s faces on it actually…. hmm something for next year perhaps. Those cinnamon scrolls look AMAZING – our treat was sticky date pudding, so so decadent and delicious.
Sticky date pudding??? That does sound decadent and delicious!
Sleeping in on Christmas is a great gift! I slept in too and we didn’t end up opening gifts until around 1 pm — in the morning we took the dogs for a walk, opened stockings, had brunch and then FaceTimed my sister — but it was nice to have a slow Christmas, even though now it feels like it went by way too quickly!
It is nice to do it slowly- even with the way open gifts now, before breakfast, it’s still slower than when the kids were little. But no matter what, it goes by too fast.
We always have cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast. I’m lazy though and use Pillsbury. My husband can’t handle that kind of sugar, so I made him an omelet with a ton of veggies, and some sausage on the side. Nice.
I can’t stand to leave the wrapping paper on the floor either. We clean it up right away actually. We always go to my in-laws house for Christmas after our morning. I do not know the last time I slept past 8am. 9:30 sounds amazing.
What a lovely Christmas, Jenny! I love your book flood and the calendar – I usually make something similar for my mom but forgot about it this year, ack. And then the Shutterfly website was giving me issues so I opted for a Friends daily calendar instead.
We always clean WHILE opening presents, haha. Wrapping paper gets immediately put in a trash bad and presents are stacked up neatly. None of us can handle mess.
I always go to my mom’s for Christmas, which is a low-key affair and I love that! My brother and his family have to rush around to a bunch of different houses and I do not envy them.
Merry much belated Christmas to you.
It looks so joyous in your home on Christmas Day.
I have spotted the Solitaire Mystery and I am hoping you like it if not love it as much as I do. Once you have read it I need to ask you something about a certain chapter and how it was translated.