Happy Holidays Part I

As much as I would like to write an epically thoughtful, enlightening, or ridiculously humorous post, I find myself void of the energy to do so. Mainly because it’s holiday time which means I have been running around pretending I’m super woman trying to get it all done (not to mention I’ve been fighting a whisper of a cold for over two weeks now. You know the cold...the one that’s not enough to completely knock you out but strong enough to make it hard to focus and keep your eyes open, yeah that one ). Nevertheless, I have taken the ambitious route this year not only volunteering to bake cookies for my husband’s entire work team but also committing to Emma’s school holiday party, and sending out Christmas cards on top of accepting every single invitation to every event we’ve received for the month of December. Pretty much every holiday tradition/ cliché we are participating in this year which should in no way set unrealistic expectations for future holiday seasons to come.

The list of events, in case you were wondering includes: one ugly sweater party, one cookie baking session with Nana, several ornament decorating crafts, keeping up with an advent calendar, a trip to view a Christmas light show, 3 Christmas parties, Christmas card photo shoot, brunch with Santa, black Friday shopping (sort of), a Christmas Pageant, and a non-holiday (but still totally awesome) 4 year old birthday party. Not to mention we are hosting Christmas Eve at our house this year. Sadly, my Mother-in-Law has to work and will not be able to host. I will miss seeing my mother-in-law dearly and miss her cooking especially, not to mention her uncanny knack for entertaining the children. I’m just hoping I can keep the kids feed and entertained for several hours and not be too exhausted for “the big night” if you know what I mean. I don’t want anyone to take this as complaining because trust me, it’s not. It may be overwhelming BUT I think I over scheduled us this year because I am so happy. I am so grateful we made it through this year happy and healthy. We are very fortunate to be able to enjoy this special time of year together and so we are REALLY doing it up!

Note my popsicle stick Pintrest fail Santa bottom left...

One secret to my sanity this year is that I did all of my holiday shopping online on Black Friday. It was weird and wonderful. Weird because I’m used to running around the mall with my Aunt and sister and wonderful because this year I found myself sitting on a comfy leather bench, in the mall, shopping on my phone while I waited for my sister and Aunt to get out of the lines at the stores and meet up for lunch. I kid you not, I went to a mall to shop on my phone...it was so stress free. I did go into a few stores and looked around but I guess I was just not feeling it. It was a little nerve wracking waiting for all of the stuff to come in the mail but come it did and in separate shipments which also made it easier to wrap everything. I ended up wrapping  whatever came in little by little each night instead of torturing myself with what I do every year, which is wait until a few days before Christmas, freak-out, then spend hours in a single night drinking gallons of coffee and glancing longingly at my husband for help wrapping a million things.

Emma..

This year, Emma has been really wrapped up in the idea of Christmas. She goes to a religious based pre-school so she hears a lot about Christmas all day in fact, next week is her first Christmas Pageant and I CAN NOT WAIT to witness the cuteness!! So far she loves playing with the Nativity set (she has her own little people set) but she ALSO loves the gorgeous, EXPENSIVE, Italian made set my mother-in-law gifted us several years back. A few of the pieces look “well loved” or perhaps a little more “vintage” due to being handled by a three year old but I really do want her to enjoy the set (plus I have no where high up I can keep it out of reach…er…display it). She keeps asking me if it’s “Christmas time” and I tell her yes it is! Then she immediately follows up with, “ok, but is it Christmas Day?” And I have to try to explain the simple concept of a “time of year” verses a singular day which has been interesting. She thought that the day we put up the tree was Christmas day which makes sense but we have been going through the advent calendar so she can understand the concept of waiting an entire month for one day.

Emma made it through seeing Santa this year although I thought she was going to meltdown in line. Walking up to Santa, she clung to me for dear life and then I think Santa thought he was being helpful/ welcoming by giving a jolly old ho, ho, ho! which only distressed Emma even more. He finally reached out his hand and she took it! A Christmas miracle! I sat her on his lap and asked her if I could go stand off to the side. She said yes! So we finally got the shot I’ve been waiting 3 years for! Afterward, hubs walked over and made sure Emma told Santa what she wanted. We made sure to explain once she told Santa himself what she wanted there was NO going back. In the weeks leading up to Santa her requests have ranged from “presents” to “a horsie to ride” to a last minute game changer, a “dinosaur.” We can’t have her wake up Christmas morning sobbing because Santa didn’t bring the XYZ she wanted so after the requests were in, she knew she was done. I also wanted to mention that Emma did go with me to pick out several toys to donate to less fortunate families this year. I explained to her that not everyone has what we have and we needed to share. I’m not sure she fully understood but I was glad to introduce this concept and I’m hoping to expand on this in the coming years.

Recently, she is quick to point out any Christmas lights or big, blow-up lawn décor as we drive around. We walked around our neighborhood and one other neighborhood to check out the lights. It was really fun. What has made everything even MORE fun is the fact that our dear friend El Nino has brought spring like weather to the area. I seriously would never be out walking around in the cold looking at lights…EVER. I am loving this extra out door time we normally do not get!  It’s even making me think about relocating to a warmer climate again but that probably won’t happen until retirement if I’m lucky… Anyways, I am looking forward to the next set of holiday activities coming up this weekend and next week.

Thanks El Nino! 

Hopefully I will bring you happy holidays part II the week after next as well as my yearly wrap up here before the New Year. If somehow I get carried off by elves and don’t make it back until January…have a happy and healthy holiday season!