Christmas Day

Christmas is no longer the day it was. It used to have a little magic to it and the Girl belief in Santa Claus helped. I remember telling them as I ran up stairs I think I heard Santa's sleigh  and they better get to bed. Or the other time I told them about the time I saw Santa Claus when I fell asleep in the chair in Nyack one Christmas eve. These are stories I guess I'll have to save for the grand kids
     I watched  Nasta wrap some of her presents. She used twice the amount of paper needed and half a roll of tape to sort of wrap a present for Teri. I stepped in to show her how to measure the paper and how to fold the corners and end up cutting the wrapping paper about an inch too short. some lesson. She comes up with cutting out trees from the design on the paper to hide the shortage, good idea.            Elena is better, she uses less paper. You can still tell she wrapped the present her self. I have to say I am proud how they have both grown to buy their own presents with their own money and to wrap them mostly on their own. It was only a few years ago I supplied the money and helped wrap them. They bought their presents down and put them under the tree. Teri spent a day and a half wrapping presents and I helped her bring them down from where she wrapped them in the attic. We didn't wait for them to fall asleep like in the past.
     This Year there was no letter to Santa, no cookies or chocolate milk. We bought the Santa my mom made a few years ago (over ten years ago now) and pulled out a letter to Santa from Nasta and Elena. It might have been their first letter to Santa. We passed the letter around and put it back where it was for someone to discover it again in the future. Everyone went to bed late and when the sun rose the next morning it was just Teri and I who got up early. Nancy joined us and I went back to bed to keep Mosha company in the bed room while Nancy's dog, Nevel got some time to run around. Around eleven we opened gifts. Then We made a trip over to Karl and Madeline's for a visit and a little brunch. Dinner was about 3 pm and We had a very tasty Rib Roast. Dinner was attended by Teri, Nastia, Elena, Nancy, Amanda Tony and myself. I was a nice dinner.
     I tried off and on to take a nap, never quit succeeding. Every time I tried there was a chore I was needed for.
     At 5 pm David joined us. Around 6:30 We, now a group of  eight went over to Eric and Lynn's. Eric had fallen two days earlier and had limited mobility. His poor legs. Karl and Madeline made a rare appearance and it was a nice night. We played the Yankee Trader gift game and some where in the middle the rules got broken, no one seemed to mind. People were teaming up and working to get the present they wanted. It was funny, but it got redundant after a while. Someone would take a gift from Nastia, then she would take her boyfriends gift and he would take the gift she wanted back. There were several couples that did this. It was funny at first, later it got a little boring. Teri wanted to keep a picture my mom drew and Denis wanted to take it from her, so she tried to hide it under her shirt. Denis one upped her when he put on a pair of rubber gloves and used a grabber people in wheel chairs use. It was the funnest moment of the night. Company and deserts were nice. Now finally Christmas is over.  Just New Years left.