I thought I'd recap our Christmas celebration a little. We usually have three celebrations: Christmas Eve with David's parents, Christmas morning for us, and Christmas night with David's extended family. In years past, I've dreaded Christmas Eve a little, because our nephews kind of kill it for all the adults. Their behavior has been less than adorable, and a four-hour extended multi-child tantrum isn't my idea of holly and jolly. But as the kids have grown older, the tantrums have lessened, and this year wasn't half-bad. Only two huge meltdowns and zero shouting matches! The toy of the night was this little cheap helicopter office toy - that thing captivated the kids (and grownups!) zooming all over the living room. Meanwhile, the adults did a secret Santa. My wish list included a lidded salt cellar, and my Santa gave me one, along with a nice set of Himalayan sea salts.
For some reason, on Christmas morning, I felt like changing things up. Maybe it is because we already couldn't do our Christmas morning run, thanks to my foot, but I didn't think a brunch for just the two of us sounded fun. We walked to church that morning, and ran into good friends. We started chatting about Christmas day as an adult, and long story short, ended up inviting them over. A few quick texts yielded four guests for a casual brunch! I'd already planned on bagels and cream cheese with lox and capers for our breakfast; I added ruby red grapefruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, and a loaf of stollen I'd made weeks earlier. David made mimosas, we played Christmas music, and had a truly lovely morning with good friends! I've never had a get-together on Christmas day, but we had such an enjoyable time. Everyone was happy to have something to do, and we shared stories from childhood Christmases. Brunch was delicious - the homemade bagels were especially good - and the company a joy. It was one of the most fun Christmas celebrations we've had in years.
Usually I'm a stickler for tradition, but we had so much fun on Christmas morning that I let it slide this time!
Your Christmas morning impromptu get together sounds like so much fun! It is nice to break tradition occasionally and do something that sounds fun to you in the moment! We spent Christmas Eve/Day with Phil's mom but it wasn't the best holiday as I got a nasty chest cold and couldn't wait to get back home so I could go to bed! But I know his mom loved having us there as she gets so lonely since she is a widow.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds really nice. Our entire Christmas holiday is crammed with family obligations, and while I appreciate having them all so close, sometimes it's a bit much. A relaxed brunch with friends sounds amazing.
ReplyDeleteI feel you on the kid tantrums spoiling stuff, though the most annoying and childish person at our family NYE party was an adult, which for me is even more irritating.