Christmas Eve 2009

Most of my life, my family has celebrated Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. The extended family gets together for tamales and family cheer on the 24th. We usually have a great time hanging out, eating and catching up. This year my aunts Mel and Lucy were over with their families. I always enjoy seeing my cousins and its even cooler seeing the next generation of cousins play around.

All the faces were familiar this year but one: Miranda's new boyfriend Chris. They have been seeing each other since the summer and moved in together this month. Its pretty serious. I thought Id throw a picture of him in here since its one of the few I took on Christmas Eve. I was pretty tired that night and the lack of pictures I took on that day seems to reflect my fatigue. Here is Miranda, Chris and Matt:

Throughout my life, there have been family members who have played instruments on Christmas Eve. There were a number of years where I was forced to play carols on the piano. Ditto for my cousin Erin. Bri and Nicole played the flute and/or clarinet when they were young and I think I recall them playing one year. However, one of my earliest Christmas memories is of my dad playing carols on his accordion. This year after 30 years in retirement, Dad brought that same accordion out and played us some tunes. His mom, my Grandma Bette sat along side him approvingly. I thought it was fantastic!

Every year Santa visits the cousins and brings books. For the past several years we have always had a crier in the group. I recall Abbey crying her head off last year. Im pretty sure my cousin's daughter Gabby bawled too. This year there was not a tear in the house. Santa came a knocking and the kids were happy and ready.

That last picture is one I will treasure for years to come. Last year, Seamus had an exceptionally rough Christmas season and the ramifcations were pretty huge. Historically, he has never coped well with December and/or the Christmas season. He has always had a tough time accepting Finn's birthday without jealousy and that bad start in early December tends to follow him throughout the month. Seamus has been this way since he was a small child. When he was younger, I used to think that the holiday season overwhelmed him and the bad behavior followed. As he's grown up into a pre-teen, that excuse has not held water.

I am overjoyed to report that this year, Seamus was a completely different child: an angel. My son was a freaking angel! He was agreeable. He was helpful. He was thoughtful and kind. There were a few times during the past several weeks where we would be in a potentially explosive situation and I could tell he was struggling. However, in almost every single instance, I could see his brain working through all the different scenarios and he would, more times than not, make the right choice. That is HUGE for my boy! This year, when Seamus sat on Santa's lap and was asked if he had been good this year I had to practically stop myself from yelling "OH YES HE HAS SANTA! MY BOY HAS BEEN A JOY!" Seamus has impressed me so much this season. I am sooooo proud of him. Super duper proud.

On Christmas day Seamus was rewarded for his good behavior. Santa made up for last year's disappointment and I have rarely seen Seamus on Christmas morning so happy and so appreciative. That was an outstanding gift for me to receive- to see my son reap the benefits of his hard work and good behavior. Seamus is at an age now where I believe he understands the Santa thing. He had been hearing from me all season how pleased I was at his behavior. He was the constant champion of my encouragement and my praise. I believe on Christmas morning the connection between his hard work and being in our good graces rang clear. I believe he enjoys how it feels to make his mama and dadoo proud. Im hoping this maturity will stick around for many weeks ahead. We're going to both work on it.