Five Things We Did Right This Christmas

I think we had one of our best Christmases ever this year, with good behavior all around (at least until my nephew threw a tantrum because he had to disconnect his Wii and go home). Some of our successes probably had to do with having teenagers now instead of little kids. Still, it's nice to find your way around something. Here are five things that worked out well for us this year:

1. Going to Mass on Christmas morning. Usually we try to get church done on Christmas eve -- often with a fair amount of scoodginess from my son -- but this year the timing didn't work out. So we went at 8 a.m. Christmas morning, pre-presents, and I think it set a nice peaceful pace for the day. Maybe, since it was the same time we usually go to Mass, it was also less routine-busting for my son, who behaved really very nicely. I thought present-anticipation might make him crazy, but no. We'll probably do this from now on.

2. Making a Christmas video DVD. I actually did this as an extra add-on present for aunts and uncles, but my kids asked for a copy for themselves and watched it all Christmas day -- like when Dad's leisurely breakfast made them wait even longer for the present-opening. The videos included a couple I'd taken of them the day before, a couple from the previous summer, one from a couple of years ago before my son's voice changed (!), and my daughter in particular occupied herself with watching it through much of the day. In fact, when Dad finished eating? He had to wait for a video to end before he got his presents.

3. Not going crazy with gift-quantity. I still remember one year when my son was small, and he opened a set of big blocks, and became completely absorbed in playing with them ... until we tore him away, and made him open something else. He never played with those blocks again. This year, there was nothing to tear him from the iPod he's been working for for months by making his bed, blogging, and reading daily. Sometimes, less is more, and maybe having teens allowed us to go for one or two highly-desired things instead of an endless toy spread.

4. Having a quiet dinner at home. Instead of having the whole family over for a meal, or going out as a big group, this year we invited the family over for dessert and had a little chili supper with just the four of us. I don't know if the extended clan will let us get away with this every year, but it sure helped us maintain the calm, low-key, low-stress theme of the day, and kept the always overstimulating "cousin time" to a minimum.

5. Plugging in the Wii downstairs. "Cousin time" was even less crazy-making this year because my little nephew toted his new Wii to our house, plugged it in downstairs, and stayed down there with my niece and my daughter. More nice quiet time upstairs for the adults! And for my son, too. I'm not sure why he hung out with us instead of the other kids -- the game was too hard? he couldn't get a turn? the room was too noisy? -- but I'm glad he did, because it gave me an opportunity to see what a nice young man he's growing up into, able to interact and listen politely. We're in one of those stages now where we have rough patches that make me wonder how he will ever survive as an adult, and smooth patches that give me a glimpse of how it might be. Christmas was one of those smooth patches, and that's a blessing right there.

How was your Christmas? Did you learn anything, for better or for worse? Did your children, and your family, behave, or misbehave spectacularly? Answer the poll above, and share your experiences in the comments.