We’re still drinking our coffee “holiday style,” right? At least until the kids are back in school?
How did the holidays go for you, or are they still going on? My family celebrates on Christmas Eve (I don’t know if that comes from the Dutch ancestry or from the long line of ministers/farmers or from a combination of both), so we’ve already had The Day of Presents/Celebration followed by The Day of Playing With Presents, and now we are on The Day of Flopping Around Feeling Cabin-Feverish.
I never quite caught the holiday spirit this year, but that’s okay. Things were nice anyway, and I managed to do the things I wanted to do to make sure the children still had enough Christmas. I found it motivating to think things like, “They can’t do Christmas for themselves; it’s something you need to do for them, like buying their clothes and making their meals.” I ended up doing MORE Christmas things this year, because I had to actively think about it.
Gingerbread houses (made out of graham crackers) (two separate stations because aaaacccckkkk so many children reaching):
Christmas cookies (gingerbread men purchased from grocery bakery, circles sliced from roll of Pillsbury cookie dough) (maximum three kids at a time, because otherwise aaaaackkk):
Tree-decorating (which turned out to make things EASIER for me):
And presents:
I’m pleased with how things went, and looking forward to the new year. The annual calendar post is up at Milk and Cookies, and also a Christmas loot report.
How about you? Are you pleased with how things went?
Merry after-Christmas! Things around here were pretty good. We have decided to start making our own Christmas traditions – going into the city on Christmas Eve to look at stuff; fun dinner of pigs in blankets and soup. Nothing too crazy or hard to do. (My kids are 3 and 5)
I wrapped a little bit at a time, watching TV at night or when the kids were in school. Now it’s the day after and both kids are playing with their toys, and I am alternately playing with my new computer and fussing about Where to Put the New Toys. (Yes, I was specific, but still a certain Grandma over bought. And there is a bin of legos I have *No Idea* where it’s supposed to go.
We had a lovely Christmas and the kids have been so busy playing that we have barely seen them. lol
I’m very pleased with how our holidays went and even more that they are all over. I never caught the spirit either although we had some wonderful visits with friends and family.
I’m glad you enjoyed yours!
I kept catching the spirit, then losing it. This leaves me the day after Christmas feeling…perplexed and head-scratchy. It’s over? Okay. But it was nice and quiet and full of delicious things, even if our planned trip to be with family had to be cancelled.
I feel like I haven’t seen pictures of the kids in SO LONG. They are ALL GROWN UP WHAT IS THAT.
Merry Christmas, Swistle! I’m glad things went well (and thank you for the pictures – your kids are SO GROWN UP!!!).
I tend to get very pouty and homesick around this time, since I’m not with my parents. But I found that talking to them about all the beloved family traditions this year HELPED rather than made things worse. And I think this being Christmas #3 with the in-laws helped too – I knew what to expect and was prepared for missing my family and was really able to just… enjoy our time together. Hope your day of Flopping Around goes well (and quickly!).
My Christmas was great. Instead of doing presents, my immediate family and grandparents go on a trip together. Last year we did Vegas, which was so much fun but extremely expensive and exhausting. This year we opted to rent a cabin in the Smoky Mountains in northwest Georgia. Seven days of mimosas, playing cards, consuming cheese dip and red wine for dinner, and watching Christmas movies. So much fun. I’m sure this little tradition will stop once my siblings and I start having kids of our own (which if my mom had any say, would have been years ago…we’re all in our 30s and mom’s grandmotherly biological clock has been on volume 11 for quite some time now.) Christmas proper was spent with my boyfriend’s family, and they all surprised me with lots of lovely gifts. Thankfully I had some for them too, and it made me realize that after taking years off from gift giving (because of my family’s tradition of taking a trip instead) there is something very satisfying about giving. All in all a very wonderful and relaxing Christmas. Now I’m back at work for the first time in 11 days. If there was ever a better reason to put a splash of whiskey in my coffee, I cannot think of it.
I also just wanted to say that I covet Elizabeth’s Hello Kitty earmuffs. They are totes adorbs, as the kids would say.
Yay! Looks like so much fun. This makes my non-gingerbread houses/tub of chocolate chip cookie dough Christmas prep seem way less awesome though.
I’m very pleased with Christmas. We’re done with our three days of gift-opening craziness, and the children seem very happy with what they got. (Actually, each boy is very happy with what the other one got. Who knew toys for a two-year-old would appeal so much to a four-year-old, and vice versa?)
All of our celebrations were pretty low-key, which was ok. It was nice to have a quiet Christmas.
Before I mention my own Christmas, I first have to say that Lordy Woman, it has been too long since we’ve seen pics of your children, particularly the older ones. When I saw the first picture, I said to myself “Now WHO is that dark haired boy?” I then decided he must be a friend of William’s. Then he appeared again and I went and looked at your profile and realized there was a child that I didn’t even realize that you HAD!! This is very wrong and must be corrected!
I do wish, dear Swistle, that you would write some newsy post about your kids, particularly your older two, because I can compare notes of how your life is compared to MY having two sons ages 14 and almost 11. We can COMMISERATE.
Our Christmas was really quite good. I did a couple of Christmassy type things, like making marshmallow pops with the boys. The 17 year old daughter did much of the Christmas decorating, which relieved me of that duty, since I don’t particularly enjoy it. Christmas Day was hectic and busy and exhausting yet also wonderful and fun. Today has been pure luxury of the kids being busy with things they got and also enjoying hours of mind sucking TV while I look the other way for just one day. I sat in the bathtub with my Kindle for one whole hour and I am all kinds of pruny.
Tomorrow we will do some sort of mild activity and then the 28th starts the festivity clock again as the youngest and zaniest child turns 11. :-)
Right now I am feeling rather glad it is all over. Having all my in-laws for Christmas is rather a lot. And since we had kids, they have only left us alone for one out of five Christmases. That is a lot of in-law. So now that they are all gone, I am feeling like I can finally do Christmas.
Most of Christmas break for us is “Flopping Around Feeling All Cabin-Feverish.”
I don’t mean to alarm you, but you appear to have a brood of GIANTS staying at your house this christmas break.
I never did catch the Christmas spirit either. And I bought the stuff to do the houses, but then I didn’t actually follow through. Anyway, my Christmas was kind of sucky. Still grieving my grandma and feeling like I have no family. (Yay, depression!)
It is so wonderful to see your kids. I am really so glad you did this. It cheers me.