Reflections on the many phases of Christmas

The night before Christmas, and all through the house - not a creature was stirring....uh, well:

anyway...round about 2pm on Christmas Eve, I left the peace and tranquility of my house and tree:

Packed the car tight with gifts and treats and cards and more:

and headed off to the annual "Christmas Marathon" - Rose will appreciate this phrase - I mean I really did a lot of "transitioning" this Christmas! From one house to another, from one kid to another, from one couch to another and finally, from one table to another.
2012 Edit:  According to Rose - one doesn't "transition" during a Marathon, only Triathlon.  Whatever!!!

But I digress...There are many phases to this whole Christmas holiday. The first being:

ANTICIPATION

Children anticipating gifts from afar, Aunties anticipating photo cooperation (ha!) and Parents anticipating trouble at church:

Here's one of the small fry anticipating the present return for sitting nicely for a photo:

and here we have more small fry anticipating Santa's arrival time:
My sister's son anticipating the birth of Jesus:
and me, anticipating the children's need to meddle with the great grandmother's nativity set, provided a more stable (get it, stable!!! HAHAHAHA - that's a joke, son) version for them:
and finally, the anticipation of the BIG MOMENT:
Following this, the next morning we endure:

PATIENCE

Ahhh, the virtue needed most. Patience in temper, patience with reactions, and patience with small hands grabbing and small feet running.

Overnight patience paid off! Santa had come:

These children are modeling patience with Auntie and her damn camera:
This is the most patient you will ever see a group of children this large...for there is too much at stake for them to screw up this late in the game:
and then patience took a flight out of town:
Following this we enjoy the next phase:

JOY

Joy of giving, Joy of receiving, Joy of watching the kids appreciate that their Parents, Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents got them just the right toy/clothing/electronic article:

As the afternoon wears on, and the presents are being coddled, we move on to:

GLUTTONY

The phase most commonly associated with this holiday. Too much food, too much drink, too much spending, too much everything!

Auntie's Glutton Pie:

The day was chaotic at best - I didn't manage to get a lot of time to time to snap photos of the kids individually. Here are two cute ones though:

Finally, as the sun set and the day mercifully ended, I gathered up my toys and candy and headed home. Here is an example of the gifts I received - a Dr. Pepper can safe being one of the funnier ones:

Meanwhile, someone, I WON'T SAY WHO, had been pining for me to get home all day: