Happy Merry Christmas!
This was our first Christmas that felt like what we always though Christmas with kids would be like. In previous years, they didn’t really get the concept – the twins because they were only 1, and Zoe because, well, she’s Zoe. 
This year, though, boy did they get it. John woke up with the twins and spent a little time hanging out in the living room while Deb and Zoe slept on. A little while longer, Zoe comes down; she sees the pile of presents under the tree, her eyes get as wide as saucers and she yells “let’s open presents!!!” So John tells her that we can’t open presents without Mommy, and Zoe almost takes the stairs two at a time in her eagerness to get Mom downstairs.
Then the wrapping paper carnage begins. ALL of them start flying into gifts. The idea of “let’s take turns” turns out to be completely unenforceable. Fights break out when one girl wants to open another girls presents. Candy cane stickiness is everywhere, and we both nearly break a leg tripping over some freshly opened diabolically underfoot toy. And all day Zoe is running around telling everyone “Happy Merry Christmas!!!”
Like I say, what I always thought Christmas with kids would be like.
