Matriarch-ing It

We've been enjoying a lazy Christmas today.  Well, at least those of us who aren't at the office.

I've never had a lazy Christmas before.  I suppose the closest I ever came was the Christmas that Little Guy was just five days old, but feeding a wee one around the clock and recovering from childbirth just doesn't have the same feeling as lounging about in pajamas all day, snacking on leftovers and piddling around the www, while the children happily strew toy parts across every square inch of the apartment.  This one's lazy because we front-loaded our celebrations.

We invited the Mister's parents to join us for a pre-Christmas visit this year.  (Pre-Christmas because the Mister isn't the only one who needed to be on duty Christmas day.)

We had a fun three days, full of rest and relaxation, a walk to watch the ice skaters in the Sculpture Garden, a little indoor swimming, lots of readings of Christmas books, Baby Girl's first street cart pretzel, two beautiful Masses, and a feast on Christmas Eve.

Oh, and because it's not a Snodgrass family gathering without a little friendly competition...a pecan pie bake-off, with blind voting!

Then, we put the children in their Christmas pajamas, laid out cookies and carrots for any possible nighttime visitors, and went to bed with visions of sugar plums doing their jig!

 When we woke, it seemed Santa and his reindeer had enjoyed their snack and left a few things behind.

 We found a toy house for Little Guy, a scooter for Buddy Boy, and a baby doll for our Baby Girl.

Within minutes, the toy house family members were jumping from windows, falling down stairs, and getting their heads stuck in toilets.  The crib pillow was stuffed in the freezer, the little boy was asleep in the dresser drawer, and the baseball had been used to clog the drain.

Such is life with little boys!

 When the big brothers could take it no longer, they went in to rouse Baby Girl from her crib.

 She jumped right in, attacking wrapping paper and devouring game pieces.

Such is life with little babies!

This is the first Christmas I've ever celebrated away from my parents.  Only the second I've ever celebrated away from my grandmothers.  I miss them all.

With Christmas breakfast at my parents' house, Mama always serves a fruit salad called ambrosia.  Honestly, it's never been my favorite, mainly because it has shredded coconut and maraschino cherries, and I'm just not a fan of either.  But it's there every year.  Every single year.

A couple of days ago, I was grocery shopping for our Christmas breakfast.  It's the first I've ever been in charge of orchestrating, and it felt monumental to be deciding on a Christmas morning menu.  I mean, here I was just merrily playing matriarch in the aisles of Harris Teeter.  Was I up to the task?  I knew I wanted to serve monkey bread and sausage rolls, but had I really given all this enough forethought?  I could be setting lifelong traditions here.

Slowly, a sense of calm came over me, as my shopping cart wheeled itself back to the canned fruit aisle.  I was absolutely compelled to begin loading in cans of mandarin oranges, chunks of pineapple, and those syrupy maraschino cherries.  Back to the refrigerated section I was carried, where I selected jars of sectioned grapefruit.  And on to the shredded coconut, of course.

Ambrosia.  No Christmas morning is complete without it.

Christ Our Savior is Born!  Merry Christmas to all!