Wednesday morning, I got a pair of Christmas gifts that will stay with me throughout the year. Simple, heartfelt gifts make the best Christmas presents.

Since no one had to go to work, the plan was to sleep late. Apparently Marcus didn’t get the memo. Around 8 a.m., he started barking the signal he needed to go outside to take care of business. I knew it was supposed to be in the mid-20s, so the last thing I wanted to do was to get up, go outside and have a frigid blast of air hit me square in the face.

Thankfully, Kathy drew potty duty and marched Marcus outside. I stayed up under the covers, nice and toasty. When they came back Kathy flopped on top of me, giving me a big hug and said Merry Christmas. Marcus jumped on the bed and started licking my face. With my arms pinned under the covers, I had no choice but to accept the gifts. And I loved every second of it.

I think this was the best Christmas I have had since I was a wide-eyed innocent kid waking up on Christmas morning and rushing into the living room to see what Santa had left me. As we get older, we get jaded about some things and take others for granted. The holidays become more of a chore. We fret over what presents to buy and how we will pay for them. We worry if we will have enough time to do all the shopping. We stress about preparing the big family meal. We get anxious about traffic as we drive over the river and through the woods to the family gathering (or more likely the case, gatherings).

Being in the newspaper business, there is never a lot of time off. This year, we all got Wednesday off and had to be back on the job Thursday to put out the paper you are reading. With limited time and lots to do, time management is a needed skill.

Over the last few years, I have made a concerted effort to simplify Christmas.

This year, we trimmed Christmas to the bone. Instead of exchanging gifts, Kathy and I adopted a pair of sisters from the Angel Tree. And instead of driving 300 miles to have Christmas with my parents, or 400 miles for the traditional Christmas Day meal at my sister’s place or 350 miles this weekend for the traditional Second Christmas with the other side of the family, we decided to stay at home.

Kathy and I started dating in the summer of 2010, so this is our fourth Christmas. But it is the first Christmas that it is just us – and the critters of course. It’s kind of hard to forget about a 100-pound sheepdog.

Being in Baldwin County while the rest of the family was hours away precluded family gathers. So there was absolutely nothing on our schedule.

Christmas Eve, we even took Marcus riding (he loves to go riding) and got him out and into Santa’s sleigh in Robertsdale for a few pictures. He was a good sport, until the traffic and a neighborhood dog spooked him.

It was nice to be able to shift life into a lower gear, even if it was just for a day and a half. It gave us a chance to kick back and watch some movie classics that neither of us had ever seen. Instead of Chateaubriand and pate de foie gras, it was Hamburger Helper and roast pork. And while we ate leftovers, we thought of two little girls with brand new matching sweaters playing with their Christmas toys.

I hope all of you had just as fulfilling a Christmas as Kathy and I did.

William Moore is the Senior Editor at Gulf Coast Newspapers. He can be reached at wmoore@gulfcoastnewspapers.com