Christmas Eve was absolute
magic. After a fun afternoon ice skating at the Christmas market, we came home, popped Cremant (Luxembourgish champagne), and started cooking. Escargot, fois gras, boeuf encroute, bouche de Noël, all while listening to Christmas carols and reveling in the
real meaning of Christmas.
Towards the end of dinner, the door bell rang. And what do you know? Tinsel the elf had dropped off Christmas pajamas for all the kids on the front stoop! They were ecstatic! They couldn't believe Tinsel knew their size.
All day, the kids had been giddy waiting to open one present before bed -- they had each carefully chosen their gift, gently shaking it and trying to guess what was inside. At last, with dinner finished, Charlie opened a remote control flying helicopter from Madeline and we just
melted as he hugged her and kept exclaiming, "Mimi! You're the best sister in the whole world!" John was beside himself too when he opened "Magic Sand" (kinetic sand that sticks to itself) from his big sister. He'd been wanting it forever. And Madeline opened art projects that Rob and I gave her, which she loved; I think her joy that night sprang more from the act of giving than receiving. Watching the whole scene unfold was
my Christmas gift from the kids.
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| Ballroom dancing to Christmas carols! |
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| Reading Twas the Night Before Christmas, of course! |
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| Charlie ended up reading us the whole entire thing! |
The next morning, all the kids were in our bed at 5:45am watching the clock inch towards 6am, which we told them the night before was when we could go downstairs. Rob was positioned with the video camera to record their reactions.
Oh, the MAGIC!
Santa brought John a car track, Mimi a sewing machine and Charlie a light saber and Ninjago Legos. The next few hours were filled with so much Christmas joy. Those precious minutes are worth the months of work to pull it all off.
Sandie and Nicki made strata (they packed the Kraft jarred cheese in bubble wrap and carried it over in their suitcases), and after a few hours of spirited gift opening, we spent the next several days building catapults, putting together models, making sock puppets and more. Madeline and Grammy sewed a toy for Bitsy on her new sewing machine.
It was another absolutely amazing Christmas. It's possible that this will be the last year that ALL the kids believe in the magic of Santa, elves and the North Pole -- Madeline is eight and she has started asking why kids at school don't believe anymore -- so we especially treasured this special year.
Magic. Pure magic.
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