The McDonald family tends to be go-getter's. We would hate to rain on JC's birthday by opening presents for ourselves while He doesn't even get a slice of birthday cake. That is why we do not wait for Christmas day to open presents. But rather we go to mass on Christmas Eve come home eat some dinner and then tear into the paper and ribbons.
When I was little, my sisters would make me cry by asking my parents if we could please wait until Christmas day to open our presents. They would all play along until I would cry, which didn't take that long, so really no one had to play along for more than 12 seconds after the first suggestion of waiting till the 25th. It seemed at the height of my crying we would take our Christmas picture in front of the tree. Looking at our family pictures this happened from 1981 up to last year. Now that I'm a big girl and mature in my spirituality, realizing Christmas has nothing to do with opening presents it's a good feeling on Christmas Eve to say to my nephews, "we all took a vote and we decided to open presents tomorrow."
Stay tuned for the Christmas picture to see who won the prize by ruining Christmas this year. It wouldn't be a McDonald Family Christmas Picture without someone crying, freshly bald or sporting a black eye...I don't think we will have anyone bald this year.
