Christmas Morning Rituals

After being awake all night putting together the toys, my husband (aka: Santa, bless his heart), wakes me up early so we can get ready for the kids' Christmas morning.

I put on a pot of coffee and he already has the Christmas music playing in the background softly. He's also already cleaned everything up - his mess from the toys and gadgets he's put together.

While we're on the topic of Christmas morning, let me give you my one gripe: manufacturers who strap the toys into the boxes with 20,000 of those wire string thingys that make getting to the toy impossible. I know they're trying to prevent theft, but they're on the verge of preventing a purchase, too.

Okay, back to Christmas morning. I brush my teeth but stay in my PJs. I have already filled the stockings from the night before with suitable stocking stuffers and for each child, we have one unwrapped "Santa" toy - something big or great laying out by the tree.

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This year, I'm also thinking of buying one of these Santa Sacks that you see to the left so I can act as if Santa accidentally left his gift bag by the fireplace hearth with present in it!

I place the stocking for the child beside his or her Santa toy so they'll know whose is whose. I also sprinkle some Christmas candy around the set-up for them, so it looks like the stocking is overflowing.

You'd think they'd wake upon their own, but they never do. Having camcorder and still camera ready, we call them all into the living room at the same time. I always like to get shots of them walking down the hall rubbing their eyes and getting a first glimpse of what Santa brought - it's a perfect picture and my mom and dad have one of me and my sister from all of our past Christmas holidays.

We all sit down on the floor together and the kids play with their toy. Then we give them the green light to rip into their stockings (I always assume they'll just go for it, but for some reason, they wait until we say it's okay).

After everyone goes through their stockings, including me and my husband, we hand out gifts one at a time. We used to do it so each person had a gift to open at the same time, but then we missed the reaction of who got what, so now we all watch as one person opens their present.

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I usually hand out presents as Daddy mans the video camera and still shots. When all of the presents are finished (I sometimes have the one "lost" present that the kids have to go searching for in the house), we have the kids take their piles of presents into their own rooms and we all sort of gather periodically to play with toys and look at things.

As soon as everyone's busy entertaining themselves, I'm in the kitchen cooking Christmas lunch/dinner. We like a casual environment. I turn off the music and have Christmas movies playing all day - I have them all!

Christmas Eve is a more special time for my family than even Christmas day, but of course, I love them both. With a fire roaring in the fireplace and smiles all the way around, you can't mess up Christmas morning - unless you bring in a Scrooge attitude!

That special Christmas morning mood doesn't happen by accident! It takes a little planning ahead, but that's part of the fun!

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To ensure that you have set the perfect Christmas morning mood, you want to first of all make sure that everything that has to be put together is ready before Christmas morning.

Nothing is worse for little ones than getting just what they wanted, but then have to wait for it to be assembled!

So put anything that needs assembling together ahead of time. Tip for Mom: Make it easy on Dad and give him an early present - an electric screwdriver. My husband loves his B&D cordless one.

You also want to be sure that you have the food ready to fix or put on the table. It's also a good idea to go ahead and set the table ahead of time, too. I have a beautiful Christmas tablecloth I use to create a festive mood.

Have the logs in the fireplace ready to light and that special Christmas CD in the CD player, so all you have to do is hit play!

If you have little ones, set a clock for them so they know when it's okay to get up. Get up before them to make sure you have time to add the finishing touches to Santa gifts. Then all you have to do is hit play, light the fire and sit back and enjoy the celebration!

Even with the best of intentions, Christmas morning can be a bit of a headache. There's just so much to do and so much going on!

So if you're thinking about how to avoid a hectic Christmas morning, you'll be happy to know it isn't as difficult as you may think. It just takes some thought and planning.

If, for example, you know your kids are getting toys that are loud and bound to make you crazy, you may want to lay down ground rules for where they can play with them, like outside or in their rooms.

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And always make sure toys are put together before Christmas morning to prevent disappointment from children having to wait until they're put together-and grumbles from those doing the putting together!

You also want to have plenty of garbage bags handy and make everyone pitch in to help with cleaning up all the paper and boxes that litter the floor. You can make cleaning up a game for little ones and give them a small surprise for their help.

Finally, have breakfast ready to heat and eat once the hoopla has died down, and your Christmas morning should be smooth sailing! Relax and enjoy.

Sometimes in all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we get wrapped up in gift giving and forget the roots of why we have this celebration in the first place.

Many kids today grow up in an "I want, I want, Gimme, Gimme" atmosphere. As a parent, you're your child's best educator and mentor.

It's important that at this time of sharing and giving, we remember that it's actually a birthday celebration.

On that day, December 25th, God was blessed with a son of His own, Jesus Christ.