The 23rd. The McCumber Christmas. Always interesting. :)
Santa. I have not gone to sit on Santa's lap for .. years. I've never been a fan of that. This Santa was pretty awesome though. I went on sat on the arm of his chair awkwardly and he said "what would you like for Christmas?" I smiled uncomfortably and ho and hummed for a few seconds before saying "I want a boyfriend Santa!" My parents rolled their eyes and Santa said, "now wait a second! We need to talk about this first." I really had expected to just hop off and get the heck out of there but noooo, he wanted to talk. Alright then. "You know young lady, you don't need a boyfriend. It's quite alright to get coal. As long as it's coal that's been heated and pressurized for a couple thousand years." I laughed and said, "yeah! A diamond!" He then told me an awesome story. "Last week a young man and woman came in. He sat on this side and she sat where you are. I asked her what she wanted and she said she didn't know. I asked him and he said he wanted to marry her. So I reached in my pocket, pulled out the ring he had snuck to me earlier, and handed it to him. He got right down on his knee in front of me and proposed to her." Cue the obnoxious, incessant "awwww"-ing from every female present. Frickin precious. I could not handle the adorable-ness of his story.
After we stood in the cold for twenty minutes to see Santa we went home and opened some presents!!! I don't actually care for opening the presents so much as watching the little kids' faces as they open their gifts and having everyone crammed in one small room together. I love it, as corny as that sounds. Leanna even brought her two little Labrador puppies {six weeks old!!!} in and we played with them as we opened gifts. It was very nice. :)
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| Christmas 2008! Oh we were so little. |
We got home at ten that night but I felt so completely exhausted so I got right in bed. Unfortunately the sleepiness didn't last long and I was wide awake until eleven thirty or so. It didn't help that I could hear the episode of How I Met Your Mother from downstairs as clear as if it was in my room. Waking up came too soon. I remember as a kid waking up at friggin six am and being wide awake, let's go let's go let's go. My poor parents would forbid us from waking them up until eight and it was always the longest two hours of my life. Now though, eight is too early, my gosh. But I obliged the squealing children because I didn't want to be mean on Christmas.
I don't know how or when or why this started but every Christmas the kids gather outside the parents door and sing Christmas carols to wake them up before opening presents. Once they come out with the camera we are free to attack the stockings. I don't know why we do that. It's strange when you think about it, but it's tradition so I don't question it. After singing three carols at the top of our lungs the parental unit emerged from their cave and we were free to delve into Santa's treats. Another tradition is that Santa brings everyone a movie in their stocking. I got.. "Barbie Charms School". I laughed really hard when I pulled that out. Classic. Oh Barbie movies.. well, that's another story. :)
Once the stockings and gifts surrounding our makeshift fireplace were thoroughly torn through we ate a quick breakfast and started in on the presents under the tree. It felt like we had more than usual but I seriously enjoyed it. We all sat in a sort of circle and Grant distributed them from youngest to oldest. As soon as Mom opened her new Sherpa blanket I stole it. It's light blue/gray and so so so soft. She got one last year but in just the course of 365 days it has turned into a disgusting, ratty mess. That's what you get in a home with little children and messy people. I took that new one and cuddled it in my lap the entire time we opened gifts.
My family will testify that the moment she got one is the moment when my hysterics began. I knew I was getting one. I started squealing and giggling and laughing and screaming up until, and even after, I opened my blankie.
My favorite animal on the face of this beautiful, green earth.
The last time I exploded after opening a gift was three or four years ago when I opened the tickets to Wicked that I had thought was only an inaccessible dream. When I opened those I started crying, when I opened this I started screaming. Something in my head makes me react hysterically to opening a sheep blanket and opening tickets to a Broadway show. I'm just strange I suppose.
I received other awesome gifts as well. Like two really nice jackets, a cute shirt, two stuffed animals, a curling iron, jeans, scarf and hat combo, and a gift card or two, among other things. Nothing will ever top this sheep Sherpa though.
Now we're all sitting around enjoying our presents and the company of Christmas and a little football {go Broncos and my boyfriend Tim Tebow}.
It's been a wonderful Christmas. :)
