Christmas Memories, Take 2

My memories from Christmas as a kid are all filled with fun and excitement and the strange magic that fills the holiday. I have found that looking at Christmas with 'Mom-Colored Glasses' opens me to a completely different, but just as magical kind of joy. Except this time I'm the one with most of the magic powers! Here are a few things I've seen differently:

Getting Presents vs Giving Presents
It was SO exciting to make my Christmas list when I was a kid. I loved running through the list of 'must have' toys that were popular that year. That's how I ended up with a Skip-It and a Giga-Pet :) But now that I'm the mom in the family it seems so much more exciting to watch my kids open the presents that I've carefully picked out for them. I even keep most of their gifts a secret from Tad so I can watch his face too.

Early Riser vs Late Sleeper
There was one thing that really pissed me off when I was little. My cousin and I would wake up at 5 am on Christmas morning to check out our loot. When we went to wake up our older brothers and sisters to taunt them that we had been the first to see what Santa had left, they would casually inform us that they'd looked through everything at 3 and could we please go away. So unfair. However, now that I'm the one who fills every stalking (including my own) I am lacking in that desire to get up before the crack of dawn. Sadly my 1 and 3 year old don't quite grasp the concept of sleeping in.

Stalking vs Stalker
I pretty much had a one tract mind on Christmas morning, and it went something like this, "presents, presents, presents, candy, presents" I didn't give much thought to anything beyond that. I love looking back at old Christmas pictures and seeing our ridiculous PJ's and crazy bed head. It only now dawns on me that the reason we have such great pictures of our priceless memories is that my mom spent most of her Christmas recording the day.

Playing vs Visiting
Oh how I HATED waiting on my mom to finish talking with people so I could get on with whatever was so important to me that day. It seemed like she could talk for endless amounts of time about things that could not have been vital to my life. How rude, right? Yet, once again, I have realized how very nice it is to just sit still for an hour and talk to my sister or brother about what's going on in our lives. It's a good think I'm a lot less boring than my mom was ;)

So I ask you, what kinds of Christmas memories are you starting to remember differently?