Usually I get a really blah-worthy post-Christmas slump or let-down. It’s because there’s so much excitement and stress leading up to The Big Day that by the time it’s over I’m left wondering how it’s over already and the lack of festivities leaves me kind of blue. It never lasts long but it’s there.
Last year I didn’t get that because I had Christmas morning with George and the girls here at home, then we spent the day with his parents, and my family came for dinner – with my sister and Neal too! – on the 26th. On top of that we gathered at my aunt and uncle’s house with my cousins and their kids on the 28th and it was the first time in over ten years since we had all been together like that. When my uncle passed away a few months ago I was very grateful to have had that one last visit with him.
I’m finding I don’t have the let-down this year either. I do have the post-Christmas slump but this time it’s not due to feeling deflated – it’s a physical “holy crap that was fun and now I’m exhausted” slump so it’s been a good one.
The 24th was pretty busy. We took the kids to see Santa because he actually hadn’t been there the day we first went. They were very happy to see him right before he had to dash off to start delivering gifts around the world.
Once we got back home I baked cookies with the kids (just Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies, nothing fancy) and while we waited for them to finish up in the oven we tracked Santa on the NORAD site. They LOVE that.
I was very smart this year (and it only took me this long to figure this out). Instead of waiting for the kids to go to sleep and then having George bring the gifts over for us to wrap – something which stresses me out since it’s always after 11 pm – I went to his parents’ house and hung out with them, wrapping everything in their kitchen (his mom did most of the work). That meant George only had to pick them up and bring them here at night, much less stressful for me.
On Christmas eve the kids got their traditional pajamas that they unwrap and wear to bed. They may be two of the very few kids who actually look forward to getting pajamas. Then we set up the milk and cookies for Santa (and Cheerios and water for the reindeer) and they went to bed.
Breanna is a sleep fan so despite the fact that it was the night before Christmas, she was out like a light in about ten minutes flat. Hayley didn’t give in to sleep until after 11 pm (so I was definitely happy that everything was wrapped already!), but it helped that I noticed on NORAD that Santa was in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She knows EXACTLY where that is and it put her into enough of a panic that she fell asleep about five minutes later. Whew. Thank God I had gotten her up at 7 am that day because otherwise she might have never fallen asleep.
George and I always divide and conquer with the kids on Christmas eve so that we don’t have to worry about the kids sneaking into the living room at 4 am. He and Hayley camp out in one bedroom while Breanna and I sleep in the other. Apparently Hayley woke George up with a loud stage whisper at three in the morning. I don’t think she went to sleep until well after 4 am, which explains why Breanna and I woke up at 8 am on the 25th with the two of them still conked out.
It was good though. It was all really good. The kids opened their stockings where they were very happy with their little gifts. Then they moved on to the Santa gifts. They only ever ask for one thing from Santa (or in Breanna’s case she wanted this OR this) which is something I like because it means we get to give them cool gifts too. This year Hayley wanted a Fur Real dog that walks and barks and sniffs a rawhide bone, and Breanna wanted a rocket ship (or a truck).
Hayley got her dog and apparently it was exactly the right one. Meanwhile, Breanna nearly peed her pants because not only did she get a rocket, it was the rocket that was attached to Buzz and Woody in Toy Story, one of her favorite movies. She was so excited to get them all.
From us Hayley got Mousetrap and a Barbie horse spa, and Breanna got a Littlest Pet Shop set (the Get Better Center Playset
Meanwhile we also got them a couple of joint gifts by giving them a big set of Barbie furniture and we downloaded Mario Kart for the Wii. They were pretty happy.
We went to George’s parents’ house for the morning and later for supper and the kids got a lot of nice clothes, some Polly Pocket stuff, and some My Little Pony things, as well as a couple of games. I also got some beautiful clothes so I was happy!
Supper was the usual “I’m going to die happy” meal of turkey, stuffing, squash, pigeon-peas & rice, steamed veggies, and ham, not to mention the pumpkin pie that I didn’t photograph because I was too busy shoving it into my, well, pie hole.
It was a great, wonderful, very happy day and once the kids went to bed (pretty easily), George and I settled in for our tradition of watching a highly inappropriate, very non-Christmasy movie. This year it was The Last House on the Left and good lord I was happy we don’t live in the woods in the middle of nowhere after watching that. Yikes.
Overall, a very good day. I haven’t gone through my photos from our day at my parents’ house yet so I’ll save that story for tomorrow! In the meantime, you can see the full set of Christmas photos thus far over here. I’ve started to put some photos as friends & family so if you can’t see all 35 photos, feel free to add me over there and drop me a line.
