Christmas morning started out very calm and quiet. Joanne and I had told the kids not to wake us until 9:00. Believe it or not they actually made it to a little past 8:30 before they came downstairs. They didn't even come running down the steps like a wild herd heading for the water hole after a long dry time.
The Christmas stockings were all hung from the stair rail. Levi had insisted that it was an absolute necessity that Joanne and I have stockings stuffed for Christmas morning.
When Levi got downstairs he just looked at the gifts that had somehow multiplied over night. We hadn't brought ours out to put under the tree until they had gone to bed and Courtney was still wrapping gifts late into the night.
Levi and Lila even posed in front of the gifts before the pandemonium started.
Even Buddy calmly posed before we started opening gifts.
Lila handed out the stockings, with some lift of help from Taisie. If you look closely you'll see that Thomas pulled a Webkinz possum out of his stocking. Levi and Taisie would go into literal screams, high shrill screams of joy, when they opened something they were excited about. I had to turn my hearing aids off.
Lila had to smell Courtney's candle, I got a digital recorder to use for my classes at Duke, Thomas got snowboarding goggles, and Taisie got one of her favorite things...clothes.
Levi got a magic trick kit and he was doing tricks for us all morning. Dave got some nice wireless tools that he will make good use of at the church and at home. Lila got a story book and all the kids got Rock Band the Beatles to use with the Wii. More about that later.
Joanne got some lotions and assorted smelly stuff. If course, I thought she smelled just fine already. All the kids got warm blankets from the great-grandparents Johnson. Courtney got a WiiFit that she had wanted. Thomas got a snowboarding helmet. If you see a pattern developing, you're right, Thomas also got a gift certificate for snowboarding lessons at an area resort. They had originally planned on getting him a snowboard, but the size is based on your height. Since Thomas is already 5'11" and only 12 years old, it is quite likely that he'll grow some more. So they decided to wait on the board.
There are of course more things than I can mention. The kids got enough Wii games to keep them busy for some time to come. Lila and Levi had to open everything right away. It was wonderful seeing the kids so excited. We did take a break to eat breakfast and finished the morning festivities in time to eat lunch.
You know when you get to be an adult, you seem to leave behind some of that childlike excitement and expectation. I'm not sure where it goes or when it actually happens, but it does. Just being there with our grandchildren and watching them, brought some of it back.
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