Saturday, December 26, 2015

Merry Christmas from the Garlands!


Christmas in the Garland household was certainly interesting.

We had planned to have a few friends and some family stop by to celebrate, but we all caught a cold/flu bug that we are still recovering from. So, with a rather heavy heart, we decided to tell everyone not to come by and we would celebrate the holiday alone as a family.

It was kind of a good thing that we decided to have a quiet day. This was Richard's second Christmas and it doesn't seem that he quite understands the concept of the holiday.

He is not yet two years old, and is a child of routine. If it steps out of his normal routine, he does tend to get a little cranky. 

Christmas is a holy day of obligation for Catholics. Most Catholics go to Mass on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas day, and since many people only go to Mass on Christmas and Easter, needless to say the church was more crowded than normal...really, like a ton more people than usual. 


Richard was not used to having so many people in the church and he started to get a little cranky towards the end of Mass, so we had to 'Pull a Judas' as we say and leave after communion. 

He was a sweet little angel at dinner afterward, thankfully. I was a little worried he would act out because it was past his bedtime, but he was very well behaved at the restaurant we went to. 

Now, Christmas morning was very interesting. Richard and I woke up at our normal time, which is around 7, but we let daddy sleep in because daddy was in the Knight of Columbus color guard for Midnight Mass, so he didn't get home until about 2:30am. We didn't even begin to open presents until about 10am. 

When we tried to open gifts, Richard showed little interest in all the colorful boxes and paper. In fact, when we did get a few toys open, he started to fuss when they wouldn't do what he wanted him to do. So, we decided to take a break from opening gifts and take a little nap. 

The nap certainly helped and he woke up in a great mood. We were able to get a few more gifts open and he loved playing with the Micky Mouse figurines he received from his great-grandparents and god-parents. However, we didn't open all of his gifts because he was already getting overwhelmed with all of the stuff he was receiving.

When most people think of Christmas Day, they imaging kids rushing to the tree to rip open all of the gifts in an excited frenzy. Nope, not us. Richard, it seems, is not big on surprises. But, we have to remember that he is not even two years old yet,and probably doesn't understand everything quite yet. 

I am sure that next year he will show more of a Christmas Spirit. 

It was an awesome Christmas. Just a quiet day spending time with the family. No guests, but a nice dinner. It was wonderful not having to worry about impressing anyone this year. 

Has anyone else had a young child who didn't show interest in presents? Do you have any tips on instilling a Christmas Spirit, or do you think it is something children just grow into? I would love to hear your tips and suggestions!

Merry Christmas!

3 comments:

  1. Well I hope you are all doing better! All the best for 2016!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Our twins were the same way last year. They would open one present, then just want to play with that toy and not open anything else. This year, at age three, they were definitely more into opening everything.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your story reminded me of a time I hid so many Easter eggs for my nephew he got tired of picking them up and had to take a break! Kids can just be so funny!

    ReplyDelete