4:30 a.m. That's when my kids woke up this morning.

[Arugula Latte]

I heard them padding around the tree and presents and I told them to go back to bed. They lasted in their rooms until about 5 o'clock before getting out of bed again. They stared at their presents for almost two hours until my husband and I finally got up a little before 7.

Wow. There's nothing like that Christmas morning adrenaline to get kids going.

[auntAgonist]

1. You lucky woman!

kids & Christmas = joy!


:hug:

[Elidor]

2. That's pretty late

When I was a kid, we'd hit the tree about two AM, just after the parents fell asleep.

[Midlodemocrat]

3. Mine slept until 8, which is unheard of around here.

I thought I had missed Christmas because I woke up about 6:30 and everyone was still in bed.

First year in many that I have gotten up Christmas morning when it was light and not dark out.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. And then, they grow up and leave........

And the world is so different, you scarcely recognize it.....

You also have trouble remembering those days....or nights...


That's where my husband and I are now......


:grouphug:

[w8liftinglady]

5. my first kidless Christmas.

It is unreal,how alone it feels.Enjoy those rugrats.

[Radio_Lady]

14. We've had grandkids in the picture since 1985. Helps to remind us

that we are NOT kidless.

Asked what the best thing about today was, both grandkids chimed in, "The PRESENTS."

I can hardly remember when mine were small. Here they are, frozen in time (about 1976):

[Radio_Lady]

12. Merry Christmas, Peggy! We have the grandkids tonight....

It's the first night of Chanukah, so they got their presents the same day as the Christian kids.

I slept well last night -- today was busy and happy, but you do realize the march of time at these holidays.

And, of course, there is pain in the world. Things just seemed simpler when our kids were growing up, at least, until they were teenagers.

In peace to you at Christmas. We're off to Salt Lake City next week for New Year's with our son and his family.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. You blink and they are grown.

First they are born. You blink and they are in kindergarten.
Then you blink and they are graduating from high school.
Then you blink and they are gone.

[Radio_Lady]

19. Finishing your thought...

They you blink and they are marrying,
Then you blink and they are buying a house,
You blink and they are expecting,
You blink and they have your grandchild.

Hope you experience all the steps including these in the future!

In peace,

Radio Lady

[Maat]

6. Beloved Daughter slept in until 8:30!

I was so happy!

Of course, last night I thought I was going to have to give her a sedative to get her to sleep. She didn't go to sleep until after midnight. Blah-blah-blahing about Santa Claus, etc.

[ghostsofgiants]

7. My little brother had me awake at 6am...

I haven't been back to sleep since. I need to sleeeeeep.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

8. i remember doing that. today i got up at 1 pm

it was glorious.

[MiniMandaRuth]

9. My parental units woke ME up.

Of course, I was writing christmas fanfiction at three in the morning, sipping my eggnog. I do stuff like that.

[AlCzervik]

10. my daughter didn't get up until 8:45, i'm up at 5:30 and i make breakfast

so 6:30 rolls around and no one is up, 7:00, 7:30 and then 8:00 and i can't believe i'm the only one up, what the hell, she's 11 and it's not like she was out pounding beers and she went to bed at 9:30.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. That's about an hour after I went to sleep...

I feel your pain! :hangover:

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. We put our tree in the basement family room and

locked the door when our kids were little.

Worked like a champ. :)

[Radio_Lady]

15. Great idea!

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. Out of sight, out of mind

One year, my husband stayed up till some ungodly hour and rigged an electric train under the tree. One of the kids wanted airplanes that year so we hung them from the ceiling with fishing line. The other kid was into GI Joes so we put a bunch of them on the tree as ornaments with Christmas lights attached to some of them. And he rigged the train and the lights so they would turn on and off with the wall switch.

So when we went downstairs to see what Santa had brought, as soon as the kids turned on the lights, the train started whistling and going round and round and all the army guys were lit up while the planes flew overhead.

I wouldn't have missed the looks on our kids' faces that year for anything.

We remember it as our Apocalypse Now Christmas.

[Radio_Lady]

18. LOL! What a great memory! n/t

[maveric]

20. I remember those precious days!

From my childhood and my kid's. One year my youngest brother, at four,got up at 4:00 and opened ALL the presents! Ma tried to re wrap them while Dad created some type of a diversion. She tried for about 10 minutes and said F**k it! They distributed them by memory. No one complained.
Precious.

[politicat]

21. In the ex's family, gifts were wrapped for difficulty of opening.

Kids were welcome to try (ha!) to open them before mom and dad got up, but rarely did the kids have success.

Duct tape etc. figured heavily into the wrapping. Great fun was had by all.

[tigereye]

22. my kid accepted that the alarm would not go off before 8 am

he's good that way. Unfortunately, mom and dad didn't go to bed til after 2 am. We lay there until 8:30 and there was no more stalling....

when I was a kid, I think we were usually up and at em at 6am....I now empathize fully with my parents. ;)

[Arugula Latte]

23. Thanks everyone for the nice replies!

These are precious days indeed and they are flying by quickly. Thanks for the reminders to savor it all! :grouphug:

[DawgHouse]

24. Oh, I miss those days with my boys!

Seriously :)

[SeanQuinn]

25. At 13, I'm long past Christmas myths and I still am a Christmas insomniac.

I don't know why. I really can't. It may be because I know I'm getting gifts and am just so happy. It may be I'm scared of what I'll get. I don't know, but I only get about an hour or two at sleep on Christmas Eve.