Deb, Myself, Chasity and McKinlee want to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Good Kwanza and Happy Holidays. It is the time of year that we celebrate Christmas and spend time with family & friends and are thankful for the time we get to spend together. We exchange gifts like most do as well. We have a few unique traditions. We always start weeks before Christmas when we decorate for it. We liked to have a tree in the kid’s rooms and did so when our children were growing up just like my parents did for me when I was a kid.
I still recall just how magical it was to wake up to a possible gift or 2 under that tree in my room from Santa. I would open my gift and then go to my sister’s room to see if she got something in there also. Some years she was up before me, and she would come wake me up to tell me that Santa had come and left her something under her tree.
The beauty of that tree in our rooms is that it wasn’t just for the thrill of Christmas morning, but it was having it for weeks leading up to Christmas as the coolest night light on earth. As an adult, I still like to leave the Christmas tree lit up at night because I just love seeing it as I go to sleep and as I wake up.
In this tradition, there is a tree in McKinlee (Swab)’s room, but Chasity decided she didn’t want one in her room. I am hoping that “Santa” leaves a gift for Chasity under McKinlee’s tree even if she doesn’t have a tree in her room.
The other tradition we have is that we usually all open one gift from another family member on Christmas Eve. This year was no different, and we each picked one of the items under the tree and opened it up this evening. Chasity had an alarm clock from Grandma Helen; McKinlee got a classic fairy tale book. Ashley received a power cord and charger for a game system and Deb, and I opened up an awesome little portable starter and inverter that my mom had sent to us. Spencer had a tin of ginger cookies.
From there it is time to setup the cookies, a glass of milk and a carrot or two for Santa. The girls overruled me and put out the good fresh baked chocolate chip cookies rather than the mint and mincemeat ones that I was getting out to put on the plate.
Once the cookies, milk, and carrots for the reindeer are put out, it is time for everyone to get to bed early for a good night sleep. We always want to be sure we are sound asleep before Santa lands on the roof and comes inside to leave his goodies.
Santa will always figure out a way to get to the boat !!
We had quite a few discussions with the girls who wanted to know how Santa would be able to get on the boat since we don’t have a chimney. I let them know that Santa is a smart guy, if he can see us when we are naughty and nice, I presumed he had seen how we get down below on the boat as well. I did promise to leave the doors unlocked to be sure he had no problems getting in.
So here I sit at 12:20 am. Everyone else is asleep, and I am just wrapping up a few of the last minute things we need to do to ensure everyone has a great Christmas. All in all, I end up with the easier job, as Deb has usually started the Christmas journey, marathon and final week sprint to be sure that all presents are bought for the kids. She also gets gifts for each family members, both her family and mine, our family members from the Grand squids, as well as stuff from us to the grand squids. It is no wonder Deb just wants to “chill” on Christmas eve and day. Frankly, she deserves that, at least.
So we also made a little progress on the teak decks this week, but you can check out the video below for a bit of detail. In closing, I want to thank all of you for the support and feedback and community that we have built over this last year. I wish each and every one of you a Happy Holiday. I hope you enjoy your time with friends and family regardless of your faith or celebration style of Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, or don’t celebrate it at all.
Thank you again, Merry Christmas and Happy new year !!! Please stay tuned and keep reading, watching and sharing our content with others that may find it useful, humorous or any other thing they may feel from it 🙂