Mommy, Santa Came!!!

I woke everyone up this Christmas morning

When my kids were tiny the best part of Christmas morning was being woken up by their excited declarations of "Mommy! Santa came! Santa came! Mommy ... WAKE UP!" I would drag myself out of bed, watch them go downstairs and see their faces light up when they saw the presents under the tree. If I was lucky there would be just enough time to get some coffee while they unwrapped items found in their stockings. I'm so not a morning person.

Christmas morning activity naturally evolves as children age, but the biggest change to my Christmas morning came seven years ago when Duncan joined our family. You see, Duncan does not usually sleep on Christmas Eve, being excited enough for all the children in the Northern Hemisphere. Our very first Christmas together he awoke at 4:30am and begged to wake the kids up - I resisted of course, but my resistance only bought me a couple of hours more. Fast forward to last year, where Duncan didn't really sleep at all, seems to me like he asked me every 10 minutes if we could get up... I don't know how I survived the next day! I usually employ some sort of blackmail/bribery to try to ensure my long winter's nap but it usually falls on deaf ears.

So this year I made it clear to everyone that we were going to sleep... at least until some time after a six registered on the clock. After making all the usual Christmas Eve preparations I went to bed quite late and I was looking forward to my four hours of sleep.

This morning I woke up with a painfully advanced cramp in my leg muscle - I tried desperately to hop around the bedroom quietly (I had every intention of going back to bed) but to no avail, I awoke Duncan (who had no interest, since it was 6:05am, in going back to sleep). My muffled cries of twisting agony also woke up Wesley who wasted no time in waking up his sister.

And so, ironically, did Christmas morning begin in our home this year.