the christmas what was

Awaiting the goods.

Well, Christmas '09 is in the books. Overall we had a good one. The week of Christmas was kicked off with a school concert at Kiddo's daycare.

She drifted toward the back a little and Mimi tried willing her to the front.

It was an odd experience to see her in her element. I'm not sure she even knew we were there (at first, anyway). She filed in with her class, sat with her class, and then got up on stage and sang and danced with her class. No small feat, considering there were about a hundred people in attendance and was, as is typical of school performances, a media spectacle. Parents everywhere with cameras and video cameras all jockeying for the best shot.

The oddest part is that I didn't feel especially nervous or excited for her performance. It was, after all, her stage debut! But she got up there and did it and sat back down like it was the most natural thing ever. Granted, she didn't have a solo or anything (it was just two short group numbers), but this is the kid who hides when strangers walk past and spent almost two weeks in Japan actively ignoring her grandfather. And she got up in a room full of strangers and did her bit. I guess given our theater backgrounds, I just assumed she'd not think it a big deal to be on stage. Anyway, she did a fine job and I am a little embarrassed that I had to remember to be proud of her after the fact.

So after a few spoiled plans due to somebody running a fever and producing a metric ton of snot, Christmas day arrived without much fanfare. We got up after 8:00 and the first thing Mimi said was, "You know, this is probably the last Christmas that we'll be able to sleep in for a while."

Yeah, we think Kiddo finally figured out the concept of presents, as evidenced by her comment on Christmas afternoon that she wanted to "play more presents." In fact, today (12/28) she mentioned it again. Monster created.

Once we got her downstairs and she saw the pile of loot, it was on.

But first, she waited politely for the photographer.

In general, she was pretty good about it. There wasn't any crying. She spent a little time with each gift after opening it instead of rushing for more more more. And we spent the better part of the morning playing quietly. This is in contrast to tale from my sister Judy who has three little ones and for whom the opening of presents began at 6:55 and ended at 7:10, followed by hours of yelling and sugar crashing. It was also in contrast to my older brother Paul's Christmas morning that started around 5:00 with some not very quiet whispering and, when I left off with him, had become what seemed like hours of four kids shouting, "Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad!"

My siblings' stories sound pretty much like Christmas morning when we were all kids. Maybe I need to wake Yuki at 4:30 in the morning and dose her with See's Candy and orange juice to give her the full effect.

But I digress. Or not. Anyway, Kiddo seemed genuinely excited by what she found under the tree. The Hello Kitty boombox was a hit!

It has a cassette deck! And we have cassettes!

The $5 Hello Kitty DVD is also a big hit despite some parental regret about giving in to that impulse buy. C'est la Christmas.

But the gift -- the F-P Playhouse was also met with sufficient amounts of wonder and interest. No big shouts of glee or anything. She just sat down and began inspecting it and taking inventory of the contents. The kid loves order.

This is her filing system. Do not question it.

Of course, Dadoo had to help.

I had to stop "helping" after I opened the wine.

Later, she would close it and insist that it remain closed while she shoved stuff through the front door or stacked up all the furniture in the front yard.

Regular houses do not split in half. Why should this one?

But it has, in fact, been hours of fun and she seems to enjoy creating tableau that involve dogs in high chairs and babies driving SUVs.

And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.