Early Christmas morning as I was arranging presents under the tree I realized John had yet to send anything for Gracie. He mentioned he was planning to, so I assumed he was just running late. Still it bothered me that there would be gifts from Aunts and Uncles, Gemma and Poppy, Santa and Mommy -- but not Daddy. So I wrestled with it all night before pulling a tag off a Mommy gift later in the morning, and changing it to "from Daddy." I felt dishonest doing it -- but have since justified it to myself by saying he does help to support her. I know at this age it's all pretty irrelavent because she is not going to remember who got her what but it's been sitting heavy on my mind. The last thing I ever want to do is lie to my child and that's what I feel like I have done. It's a lose-lose situation, one way or the other I am forced to let her down.
That issue aside though, Christmas was every bit as amazing as I hoped it would be.
When Gracie woke up she ran to check on the cookies she had left for Santa. What she found instead of some half eaten cookies, was a table full of presents. She screamed "wooooah, look Mama" and ran towards the giant Minnie and Mickey Mouse that Santa had left for her. She was clearly filled with excitement. Both for her new toys and the magic of how they got there. It took a few minutes to steer her away from the presents and into the living room where her stocking was. She went through her stocking, had a cup of milk and some toast, then moved back into the dining room to start on presents. The present opening literally took all day, but only because we stopped each time Gracie got overwhelmed. We'd open a few things, take a break to take them out of their packages, then open some more. We also worked a couple of naps, a shopping trip at Walgreens (just to get out), and a family brunch and dinner into the day. We opened our last presents just before bed. I know it doesn't sound like a traditional Christmas, but it worked out well for us! Next year I'm sure Gracie will want to open all of her presents as fast as she can. This year however, I chose to enjoy one last year of her being too little for that.
In retrospect feel like I went overboard on the gifts. I started off with a reasonable amount of things but at the last minute worried it wasn't enough. I knew this was the first Christmas she would know what was happening and wanted it to be exciting and special for her. I think it was but now I hope to tone it down a bit in the future.
We'll see if I ever succeed with that!
That issue aside though, Christmas was every bit as amazing as I hoped it would be.
When Gracie woke up she ran to check on the cookies she had left for Santa. What she found instead of some half eaten cookies, was a table full of presents. She screamed "wooooah, look Mama" and ran towards the giant Minnie and Mickey Mouse that Santa had left for her. She was clearly filled with excitement. Both for her new toys and the magic of how they got there. It took a few minutes to steer her away from the presents and into the living room where her stocking was. She went through her stocking, had a cup of milk and some toast, then moved back into the dining room to start on presents. The present opening literally took all day, but only because we stopped each time Gracie got overwhelmed. We'd open a few things, take a break to take them out of their packages, then open some more. We also worked a couple of naps, a shopping trip at Walgreens (just to get out), and a family brunch and dinner into the day. We opened our last presents just before bed. I know it doesn't sound like a traditional Christmas, but it worked out well for us! Next year I'm sure Gracie will want to open all of her presents as fast as she can. This year however, I chose to enjoy one last year of her being too little for that.
In retrospect feel like I went overboard on the gifts. I started off with a reasonable amount of things but at the last minute worried it wasn't enough. I knew this was the first Christmas she would know what was happening and wanted it to be exciting and special for her. I think it was but now I hope to tone it down a bit in the future.
We'll see if I ever succeed with that!
(They weren't all hers -- family gifts were mixed in there!)
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