Our Christmas Morning

Christmas morning is kind of a new concept to me. When I was growing up, my family celebrated Xmas EVE, not Xmas day (Santa came while we were out to dinner or in my room reading The Night Before Xmas). BOTH of my parents actually grew up celebrating the eve not the day . . . my mom's family we think did so as a ploy to keep the kids awake for midnight mass; my dad's family just because. Kind of a bizarre thing to have in common, right? Together, of course, there was no question then that they'd celebrate the eve. I also grew up in Los Angeles whereas none of my extended family lived even in the state of California, so Xmas-es were a family of three affair. Ergo, teensy, tiny Xmas eve: it's my norm.

Now that I'm married to Boy, who has quite a bit of family living nearby, my Xmas-es are becoming a little more complicated. They're multi-tiered affairs involving Xmas Eve, Morning, Day and Day/Night. We visit family for parts, we host parts . . . my very favorite part, though, has turned out to be Xmas Morning proper: waking up with the Meyers, just the three of us, and opening his presents from us and from Santa. Even though we gather around the tree during the day instead of at night, Xmas alone with just our little family feels "right" to me. It is the closest I can come to giving Rhys the tiny, insular family Xmas experience that I grew up with and loved.

This year's Xmas morning? It ruled. Rhys' favorite presents were his new Muno shoes, oodles of Duplos, a Buzz Lightyear watch and a wooden pirate ship pull toy. He got books, flash cards, alphabet games, and, of course a BIKE-A!!! (<- that's Meyers for "tricycle").

Here are some of my favorite shots from the morning (No denying, the light is better for Xmas morning shots than for Xmas eve ones!):