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I’ll be real with you. That first year of falling asleep on Christmas Eve with relative ease, with no interest in whether or not the reindeer would make a commotion on the roof this time, was somewhat of a let-down.

As it happened, I knew just what was happening. I didn’t want it to happen, but I also was really starting to value my sleep. And so it happened.

Since then, Christmas has been a whole new ball game, with new additions to the rules with each coming year: packages get smaller but pricier, present-opening comes later but lasts longer, etc.

Christmas 2009 was the most Alternative Christmas yet. I say “Alternative” and it sounds like we are an Alternative Family with Alternative Beliefs and Alternative Dinner menus — but nope, we’re about as un-alternative a family as you get in The Bay.

Still, this year we sort of had “Share Your Favorite YouTube Video” time instead of sharing our talents in the annual family Christmas Eve program. We listened to Run DMC Christmas songs in the car instead of the ol’ Amy Grant Christmas album, and there were jokes of reenacting “Home Alone” movie scenes instead of the Nativity Scene. That didn’t really happen, but almost.

Around the time when Paige and Hayley started bustin’ their Bay Area dance moves to New Boys Ft. Ray J for the aunts and uncles is when I questioned, “Whaaaat is happppening to Christmas?!?”

But on Christmas afternoon, I took a ride on my new toy (actually my dad’s old Huffy bike) in my new back-to-school clothes (actually some new gym pants) in the glorious sunshine with my dog, and got chased by little boys with new water guns (nothing fiction there). Around this time, I started thinking again about what Christmas these days felt like.

Then I thought back to the days of eagerness about whether or not Santa would polish off our festively-decorated sugar cookies as he slid down the chimney.

And yep, it still feels a little bit like that.