Christmas, from a saddle.

I have tried over the years to keep a personal tradition. A Christmas day horseback ride. In my home growing up we opened our presents Christmas eve night. I loved waiting in my room to hear Santa land on the roof with his sleigh. I would hear footsteps on the roof and what seemed like three hours later, my mother would tell us to come in and see what Santa brought. I would later figure out that Santa's reindeer don't wear cowbells and the thought of my father running around the house clanging the cowbells while my Mom put the wrapped presents under the tree stills makes me chuckle. The best part was on Christmas morning, the parents can sleep in and the kids can wake at any hour and go outside and spend the entire day riding their new bike or skating or what have you.
When I met my wife and started going to her house for Christmas I was shown the other, more traditional way to open the presents. Christmas morning everyone gets up, the kids who will not stir any other day of the year until 8:00 am will wake at 6:05 and start pestering the parents to get up and start opening presents. Everyone stumbles to the tree and the paper storm starts. Then there is clean up, breakfast, a shower and then by 10:30 you can start playing with your toys in ernest.
Now that I have grown, I still love Christmas. My wife has won the battle and we open our presents on Christmas morning, but I do get to have some time for myself on that day. When we lived on the ranch, I would saddle a horse just after the presents were opened and ride for a few hours by myself. I don't think there is any better decompression for me than a quiet ride alone. Time to think, time to reflect, the rhythm of the hooves on the ground, the feeling of the horse moving under you is unique. This year we are going to the snow on Christmas day. We will go tubing with the family and have a picnic lunch in the snow. I am looking forward to it, but I will have to put off my ride until Sunday morning after church.