I was interested in starting a family pajama tradition where we all get matching pajamas every year on Christmas eve. It turns out that I wasn’t willing to be pay $30 a piece for them so only Helen Jeanette ended up with Christmas Eve pajamas, I think the tradition will be that the kids get matching pajamas. We also let Helen Jeanette open up a book that Mrs. Silvia had sent for that purpose.

After Helen Jeanette went to sleep we had a couple hours of assembling to do to prepare for Christmas morning. Helen Jeanette work up extra early, so the Christmas excitement must have been contagious. She was thrilled to sit in her little chair to open her stocking (once she realized what the stocking  was for) and she was very sweet and quick with a fake smile whenever the camera came out.

After her stocking she wanted to start opening presents but we made her wait until after breakfast. She had a great time with her presents and we had a great time watching her.

We’ve been working on transitioning to 1 nap a day, but that was definitely not happening today. During her morning nap the 3 adults all slept too which was marvelous. We had Christmas dinner mid-afternoon followed by a short walk and some time at the park. During her second nap the adults all watched “The Interview” which was funny but very very crass. I do feel like I did my part for freedom by paying the $6 and watching it though.

Overall it was a very nice Christmas and we had so much fun with Helen Jeanette this year. This year she only had a vague inkling of the happenings (before we did Christmas with my folks last week she wasn’t even interested in the gifts under our tree, that changed after she discovered what they were for though!) but it was still so fun to watch her get involved. We usually have to prompt her to say ‘Thank you’ in sign language, but she was pulling it out profusely and frequently with every present she opened today. I’ve heard it said that the holidays are really all about the kids and making it great for them, but I suspect the kids will give me more joy at Christmas time then I am able to give them with gifts and food and traditions.