Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve morning Evie and I went over to my Mom’s and helped to decorate her Christmas tree while the boys stayed home with Jacque and decorated the Christmas cookies we brought (I made them, but did not have time to decorate them). Mom already had the tree up and partially decorated when I got there. It was very pretty this year – I didn’t do my usual ‘put every single ornament on’ routine – so Mom had mostly just garland, glass balls, and birds. Plus a few kid friendly ornaments near the bottom.

I’ve been pretty lucky this maternity leave. I’ve had Ian but James and Susan have also taken him for a week so that I had some time just me and the baby. So escaping to Mom’s with just one child wasn’t the desperate relief it could have been – it was just nice.

When I got back to Jacque’s I admired the cookie decorating efforts. Someone (John David) had used the opportunity to express his deep and abiding love of frosting, as you can see. Someone else (Ian) was very artistic in the color combinations. I judged them very yummy.

The rest of the day we were pretty much bums on the couch, relaxing, while Jacque did all the soup preparations and work. Kale soup is a family tradition that Jacque started when she moved to the Vineyard. It is simple, delicious, and fun. In the last few years she has put me in charge of arranging the veggie and cookie plates, which she gives me perplexingly lavish compliments on.

This year was a little different. Grandma and Grandpa were not able to make it, so it was just my Mom and my brother. My sister and family came in on the 8:30 boat and then it was craziness for an hour or so before everyone went home and got tucked in to wait for Santa.

Another family tradition is to have Santa’s present, unwrapped, under the tree for the kids to play with when they come down stairs. This year is ‘Lego year’ and JD spent an hour putting together a very cool Lego city fire station for Ian. I put together the stockings and convinced Evie to fall asleep and, finally went to bed at the classic parents-on-Christmas-Eve bedtime of 2am.