Day 1947. Finally Christmas! The kids were so excited, so that there was no sleeping in for me. They wanted to open the last door in their advent calendars and got to open them all, and they had three each plus one with books that Grandma had given them.
I had received a notification last night that a package was waiting at the post office for pickup, and I had figured out that it was a gift for Emmy I had given up hope on in terms of getting it in time. I just had to go pick it up before our celebration. Emmy already knew it was his gift so he wanted to come with me to go pick it up. And so we left the house together to do just that.
It was a considerable walk to get there, but thankfully there was no line at the post office. However, after I had shown him my ID and he brought the package to the counter, he said that I had to pay for customs. Unfortunately I hadn't brought any money with me, so we had to leave empty-handed. Once back home, Randy left to go get it and buy two ingredients I still needed at the grocery store.
I went straight to the kitchen to get started on the major task of the day - the day of the year when I spend more time in the kitchen than any other day. I made the stuffing for the turkey first, which took a while, then I got the 4 kilo turkey ready and put it into the oven to cook for 3 hours. Next I made the sweet potate casserole - just for Randy. At lunch time, I warmed up yesterday's leftovers that we ate.
The kids were eager to open their presents and kept asking when the time had come, especially Sammy who has no patience whatsoever. I told them the oven in the kitchen had to beep before we go downstairs. I then went downstairs to lay all the gifts out under the tree, as well as their stockings by the tree. By the time I was done, the oven beeped, and I turned it off. The turkey still needed to rest inside it anyway.
And then the time had come. We went downstairs and sat down by the Christmas tree. Several times the kids wanted to go grab a present to open, but I stopped them. First we sang a few Christmas songs together, then we prayed. Sammy was especially eager to grab a present and upset, when I said no - as seen on the picture where Randy is holding him. I then told them we'd go one after another - one kid choosing a present for the next one. Sammy got to go first and was very happy about it. Tammy went next, with Emmy choosing a gift for her, then Tammy chose one for him, and either Tammy or Emmy chose one for Sammy. In between they also gave Randy and me presents. I myself was very excited about them opening their presents; I had purchased them all, and much thought had gone into each one of them.
Emmy had lots of soccer gifts - he was the easiest to buy presents for because soccer is all he talks about. His favorite gift was a book with him as a soccer hero in it. Tammy had unicorn and ballet gifts, plus a book on space as she was interested in that. And Sammy had gifts with lights, buttons and music/sounds, as well as keys, and he likes them a lot.
After all their individual gifts, they opened the two that were for them all. One was a table foosball that they all greatly enjoy playing. The other one is a theater frame, a stage, so they can play puppet shows. A third gift is still on the way, as well as a game for Sammy.
The kids were all playing with what they had received, and I enjoyed watching them and playing with them. Then I went to the kitchen to make the rice with peas and mushrooms, so we could sit down and eat our festive Christmas dinner. I got the turkey out of the oven and cut it up, then put food on all five plates. Tammy and Emmy had also both received silverware with their names on it (Emmy with a soccer theme, Tammy a princesse theme), and I took it upstairs with me so they could use it for the first time. I cleared the dining room table and put a festive Christmas table cloth on top, as well as the candles and decoration. I decided to give the children adult plates as well to make it special.
Once it was all done, they came upstairs, and we sat down to eat and had a great time and meal. However, Tammy doesn't like meat like that and ended up eating little. Sammy didn't eat much either, only Emmy. And then I suddenly realized that he had the knife in his right hand and the fork in his left and was eating correctly the way we eat in Austria. I couldn't believe my eyes how he was moving the food onto his fork with his knife! He said they'd learned to do that in kindergarten. Tammy however had her knife in the left and fork in the right hand, the wrong way around.
After our meal, we all went downstairs together so they could play with their new stuff. Randy put the foosball together right away so they could play. I read Emmy his soccer hero book that he greatly enjoyed, and played with Sammy who had to put keys into cars to open them. He loved it. And we had the box of Christmas cookies downstairs for them to eat - the cookies they had made themselves.
When bedtime was approaching, we went upstairs. No bath today, just a quick wash, then we got them ready for bed, and they were in bed at their regular time. It had been a good day for everyone. I then turned my computer on to start working on the pictures.
