Premature Santa-lation

Here it is, 11:00 am on December 24th. Yeah, we've already done the whole Christmas morning thing. There's really quite a history behind it...

When I was small my father (who was a cop) almost always had to work on Christmas Day. Plus, my father is not exactly patient when it comes to gift giving. I'm the same way. Must be genetic. Anyway, Santa always came to our house overnight on the 23rd/24th, and we opened gifts the morning of Christmas Eve.

Fast forward to my grown up years. Yes, I'm already impatient. Tony and I are living together. I was tending bar at the airport, and I always had off Christmas Eve. And always worked Christmas Day (I usually didn't start until 4:00 - and I got FANTASTIC tips that day). Also, at this time the Downey family festivities usually lasted on Christmas Eve until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, and one (if not both) of us were experiencing a fuzzy Christmas buzz. So, the Christmas Eve morning tradition continued.

So, now we have kids. Up until this year, Tony always worked on Christmas Day. Just made sense to keep the tradition alive. This year I had to pause and think about it, though. Yes, Tony is working on Christmas Day, but not until 7:30 pm. Should we break the tradition? Should we follow the Christmas rules? I decided to keep our personal tradition alive, and here is the reasoning: Tony is SO not used to waking up any time before 11:00. If I had to wake him up at, let's say 6:00 am tomorrow morning, it would throw him off for the entire day. So, he came home from work around 3:30, we set up the presents and stockings, and sat around shooting the shit until 5:30. Out came the bells, the mad rush to try to find Santa, and a whirl wind of cute Christmas wrapping, Hershey Kisses and plastic play things. Tony even made breakfast. (Although he kept referring to the 24th as 'tomorrow' and I kept referring to the 24th as 'today.')

Becca is now old enough to figure out that she's getting her presents early. Easy cover up there. PapPap and Santa go way back. Best friends, in fact. There's a very elite group of people that Santa comes out early for. And we're included.

So, now I'm dead tired (I've been awake since about 2:00 am). And I just went through all the opening of the toys. With the wires. And the plastic restraints. I only swore about five times, and came through with one injured finger. I'll share more about the toys (and which ones suck) tomorrow. But for now I will leave you with a design I did for t-shirts and such a couple of years ago. (I think...or maybe it was last year). Anyway, as I was twisting, pulling and swearing I thought of it:

Toy Company Greeting Cards (Pk of 10)

Have a great holiday, and please be safe!!!!!!