Merry & Bright

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!



I'm currently lounging on the couch watching the kids play in their fort after a morning watching Elf. A lazy morning turned into a lazy day when our plan to visit with family were cancelled due to Adam's sister and her kids coming up from Atlanta and promptly coming down with the flu. :( Our fingers and toes are crossed that they all start feeling better soon so we can see them before they have to go back home. We love spending time with family, and Aidan, Logan and Lorelai really want to play with their cousins!

In happier news, I've successfully achieved a (mostly) stress-free Christmas season for the second year in a row! After years and years of holiday stress getting the best of me to the point of not fully being able to enjoy the season, I think I finally have things figured out. They keys are simplicity and online shopping. Oh, and setting the bar just a little bit lower for myself. :)



We've shopped for others, donated gifts, decorated our house, read Christmas stories, watched Christmas movies, listed to Christmas music, enjoyed our elf on the shelf, trimmed my mom's tree, made chocolate covered popcorn (my version of "baking"), and I've personally enjoyed some eggnog. I think our bases are pretty covered as far as holiday festivities go. The last thing we need to check off the list is opening presents and hanging out with family!



Now we just need to wrap the last few gifts and wait for Santa to arrive. Hopefully he'll bring a Christmas miracle and our family will feel better tomorrow (and no one else gets sick!).

Still in Christmas mode

I've decided that Christmas is kind of like a wedding--lots of planning, last-minute scrambling, and anticipation of the big day, then it's just...over. At least with a wedding, you usually have a honeymoon to enjoy afterwards. With Christmas, not so much.



Unless you're like me, and take vacation during the week between Christmas and New Years, stay hunkered down in full Christmas mode, spending as much time as you can with your family. I'm talking decorations still up, tree lights on, still watching Christmas movies in our PJs until the afternoon. Kind of like a Christmas honeymoon where you can still pretend like it's Christmas but all the stress is gone. I see so many people ready to get rid of all traces of Christmas the minute the last present is unwrapped, but not me.


The Santa Clause, The Santa Clause 2 and their new Skylanders Swap Force game were all enjoyed.


And when we got inevitably stir-crazy after sitting on the couch all day doing nothing, we headed out to Chili's with Christmas gift cards in hand. There were even still playing Christmas music on Saturday. :)



I don't go back to work until January 2, and I'm soaking in every moment of my time off, remembering all of the Christmas fun.


Eggnog and treats left for Santa, Twas the Night before Christmas in front of the tree.


And with that, I'll leave you with a big old photo dump of our wonderful Christmas, filled with family, fun and presents galore. But noticeably absent of any good (DSLR) photos or a single picture of the 5 of us together. It wasn't until we were packing up our stuff at the in-laws' and I grabbed my good camera that I realized I didn't use it at all and didn't get a picture of the cousins like my mother-in-law asked. I'm honestly bummed, but there's nothing I can do about it now except be grateful for the few photos I did get here and there during the day.

We started with a flurry of presents unwrapped at home.



Then we hit the road by 9am to spend the day with Adam's family. You want guaranteed chaos? Put 8 kids and 12 adults in a small room with a million presents. It's the best kind of chaos...if only we could have seen everyone's reaction when they opened all the presents we got them. But just try to tell those 8 kids to go one at a time. Yeah, not gonna happen. :)




Grandma Cheryl.


Cousins Luca and baby Piper. Lorelai was obsessed.



The kids played outside with some of their new toys.


Logan was so excited to try out his new hovercraft.

There was also eating, loom bands and plenty of lounging.



And look! I was even there, as proven by these ridiculous selfies. :)




Me and my boys. Missing my girl though, and a photo of the whole family.

By the end of the day, we were all beat and ready for a good night sleep. It was a simply great day.


Snuggle pile with Aunt Sarah, Luca, Lorelai and Scout.

Of course I'm sad it's over, but it'll be here again next year. And the anticipation until then is half the fun anyway. ;)

Wishing you love and cheer

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time." ~Laura Ingalls Wilder




From our family to yours, Merry Christmas. Hope it's filled with love and cheer!

Enjoying the season

There have been way too many years that the Christmas season has passed me by in a flurry of stress. Where I'd been so behind on my holiday to do list that I barely had time to pause and truly appreciate the joy of the anticipation and the spirit of the season.



But I can honestly say that's not the case this year. Overall (aside from the whole job situation) I've felt the least stressed I've ever felt in the weeks leading up to Christmas that I can remember. Shopping wasn't a dreaded chore this year, thanks to online shopping and continuing the effort to pare down gifts for the kids. Presents are almost all wrapped, and I put together our Christmas card (digital only again, mailing cards one of the easiest things to drop off my to do list). We were also able to contribute to our local rescue mission's toy/book drive.



I did have a momentary freak out when I was trying to put together wish lists for me and the kids to give to family (why is it always so hard for me to come up with things I want??). But aside from that, there's been a lot of enjoying...

Driving around looking at Christmas lights.



Time off work (8 days!) to relax and spend time with family.



Making teacher treats.


No real baking this year. We did homemade white chocolate popcorn and 
pretzel hugs.


Daycare Christmas parties.



Watching Christmas movies.



Playing outside in spring-like weather.


Almost 80 a few days before Christmas?! I can't decide whether to be 
happy or sad. Or wishing for snow...

Finding Jack the elf every day.



Decorating my mom's tree, per a longstanding annual tradition of having a tree-trimming party.




All that's left on my to do list at this point (after we wrap the rest of the gifts today, of course) is to spend more time with family and wait for Santa to come. I can't wait...and I'm not the only one! :)

Capturing the moment versus being in the moment

I have an arguably bad habit now (since I've been blogging, maybe? Eh, probably before, since I've had kids) of thinking in photographs and photo-worthy moments. I don't have a camera in my kids' faces ALL the time (unless you count my cell phone...which you probably should) but when it comes to the bigger moments and events, I feel a strong need to document the occasion with pretty photos. As if it won't be real or official unless I get real, official photos.

When we decorated our tree this year, I made Aidan and Logan change out of their pajamas into actual clothes, got out my camera...and took a total of 3 pictures. Literally. Turns out, I was too interested in helping put the ornaments on the tree than taking photos.



At the time, I didn't think twice about it and had a lot of fun decorating with the family, but after the tree was all decorated and everyone had gone off to do other things, I had this disappointment that I missed the moment. I almost had each of them pull an ornament off the tree so I could take a "candid" (ha!) pretty photo of the decorating. I realized that I was being silly though. My pictures of the annual decorating of the tree might not be plentiful or perfect, but they exist, and it's (hopefully) enough to help me remember the moment years down the road.

I think that's my biggest thing with photos (in additional to just really appreciating nice photography). I have a terrible memory and fear that if I miss a photo, I'll miss a memory, or my kids will miss a memory. I don't want any of us to forget playing Christmas music--and the subsequent arguing over which songs to thumbs up or thumbs down on Pandora, ha!--while reminiscing about each sentimental ornament and deciding which would go on the tree and where.

And I never want to forget that Lorelai's idea of where ornaments should go drastically differed from mine. :) She gets an "A" for effort though. I loved Aidan's, Logan's and her enthusiasm for tree decorating.




I guess it's the age-old question of mamarazzi everywhere: how do I capture the moment and still be present in the moment? If I have to choose, will I regret not getting the perfect photos in my mind to remember the moment?

In general, I feel like I'm pretty good at balancing the two, and don't feel like I've truly missed anything while looking through my camera lens. But I think I need to do a better job about not beating myself up if I miss the perfect shot to capture the moment, because it still happened regardless. And hopefully what the kids remember when looking back at photos is that I was there and in the moment with them.

Which also means I need to be better about getting out from behind the camera. Hmmm, maybe I should recruit Adam and go stage some photo ops after all. :)

Soaking it in.

For the past glorious week and a half, I've just been soaking it all in. Time off from work. All the Christmas joy. Presents. Parties. Family. Relaxation. Food. Shopping. Cousin sleepovers. Games. The end of a good year. The beginning of a new one. And most importantly, lots quality time with my loves.



But all good things must come to an end, because today was the much-dreaded dive back into reality after an amazing Christmas break. To say that I was not ready to go back to work is an understatement. I miss the warm fuzzy Christmas feeling, my kids, my couch, my comfy pants...



We left our camera at the in-laws' on Christmas, so I don't have many pictures of our festivities to share yet, but here's a sneak peek from my iphone photos.




Forgive me in advance for dragging Christmas out into January (again), but if the camera photos are any good, I'll probably do another post. But even if my blog is still full of Christmas spirit leftovers, at least our house has been de-Christmassed. And it's maybe the earliest ever—we took down the tree and almost all of the decorations yesterday. While it's always bittersweet, it felt time. New Year, clean slate or whatnot. Eh, we only got halfway to that clean slate, since nothing is put back in place. Our living room just looks empty and depressing now. Oh well.



Speaking of the New Year, Adam and I rang it in at my friends' annual NYE party (complete with a total Just Dance fail on my part, I suck). I even donned my very dangerous and painful glitter shoes for the occasion.



We got home after 2am (whoa!), but I was up at 7:30 thanks to the "joyful" noises of 6 kids, because my mom watched my kids and 3 cousins overnight at our house. We vegged on the couch all morning, savoring every last moment of the last day of vacation. Then I took an awesome 3-hour nap. Best way to spend the first day of the year? I think so. :)



We really did have a great holiday break, and I enjoyed every minute. Happy New Year to everyone!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!



While I'm slightly bummed I don't have a good picture of all 5 of us to include on our card, or even a good recent one of all of the kids together, I'm not stressing. I whipped this one up in Photoshop a couple of weeks ago in no time flat just using what I had, and it's good enough. Boom. Done.

Winning

My Christmas shopping was D.O.N.E as of Thursday, about half of the presents are wrapped, we've baked cookies, and I'm actually sitting on the couch sipping coffee (creamed with eggnog, yes!) and relaxing while the kids watch Rudolph.



I even painted Lorelai's nails for the first time. Festive sparkles "like a princess" to match my nails. Clearly I'm totally winning at Christmas this year. :)



Someone else who's winning is Lissa, who won the Mailpix giveaway. Congrats and thanks to everyone who entered!

And now I'll leave you with a festive video of Lorelai singing (ish) Jingle Bells. I hope everyone is all (or almost!) ready for the big day. I can't wait!!

Ever since I got sick a few weeks ago with a nasty stomach bug, Lorelai asks me daily if I'm all better. Sweet girl :) And as always, I apologize for the mommy voice behind the camera. She wanted to single Jingle Bells for daddy since he was out of town, but got camera shy as soon as I got my phone out.

Simplify

Ever since I became a mom, Christmas time has become so much more stressful than it ever had been. Before, I just had the usual stress of finding the perfect gift for everyone on my list, finding time to shop, fighting the crowds, etc. And just to be clear, that's the biggest stress for me. But when Aidan was born, the stress somehow morphed and all of a sudden, the pressure was ON to create the perfect, magical Christmas experience, on top of everything else (see also: my last post).

I'd like to say it's gotten better over the years as I've become a more experienced (ha!) mom, but that would be a big, fat lie. I think it's actually gotten more stressful now that I have more kids, all at different ages of understanding about this whole Christmas thing.



But all this stress means that the holidays pass by without me fully enjoying them. It's a race to get to the finish, and at the end, I'm just exhausted and mad that I didn't appreciate the scenery along the way. Short of getting Santa to pull more weight on this whole Christmas thing (seriously, would it kill the guy to haul a few more presents to my house for all of the rest of my loved ones? ☺), I've got to do something to simplify.

Paring down the presents for the kids is as start. But to be honest, this alone will not reduce my holiday stresses because my kids are the easiest to shop for there's still SO many other gifts to get and/or make.

So I've also decided that I'm not ordering and mailing out Christmas cards this year. I didn't get to it last year because I just didn't have time, and while I kind of felt bad about it, it was a huge load off my plate and that was nice. Plus, it saves me money--stamps are expensive! So instead of using the cute Christmas address labels St. Jude sent, I just tucked them away and wrote a them check instead. I'll probably end up photoshopping something for the blog, but that's about it. Sorry family.

And as much as it originally upset me, we've also done away with getting a real tree. No need to carve out time to go pick out a tree, and I can decorate earlier without having to worry that the tree will dry out and become a fire hazard. That's like 3 stresses eliminated right there! (You like how I justify a fake tree to myself, lol!).

I don't know if this is enough, but I hope it's a start to reduce my holiday stresses. Hey, it's better than nothing. And if this weekend was any indication, I think it's working (knock on wood). After I got back from Christmas shopping with the boys, I actually said to Adam that I hardly feel stressed at all right now (and then I had to pick his jaw up off the floor).

The tree went up on Dec 1, teacher gifts are done, cousins presents are almost all done, Adam's presents are bought. Overall, I think I'm about halfway done with shopping, which may be unheard of for me this early in December.



If I can wrap a present or two every night (which I hate) and find some time this weekend to do even more shopping (and/or crafting), dare I say I might have time to relax before Christmas? We'll see, there's still plenty of time for the ish to hit the fan and my own personal stress monster to rear its ugly head, so I'm not holding my breath. ☺


Things could get cray. Like this silly girl who apparently likes to eat our decorations.

Any other tips for reducing holiday stresses (aside from the obvious spiked eggnog, of course ☺)?

Just four gifts.

As a kid, I remember walking into our living room on Christmas morning and seeing the tree all lit up with a room full of presents, and it was an amazing feeling. Maybe even more amazing than the presents themselves. It was the anticipation that I relished and I truly felt the magic of Christmas.

I really want to make Christmas as magical for my kids as it always was for me, make all of their gift wishes come true but also make sure they understand the true meaning of Christmas and the value of giving.

But something's got to give in that equation because it just doesn't all fit. How can I teach my kids that it's better to give than to receive when I've been unintentionally equating a magical Christmas to filling a room full of gifts for them? I think I need to retrain my brain, and theirs. 

I mean, I WANT to give to them. And I know the grandparents WANT to give to them. I love seeing their faces light up when they see a room full of gifts, and the excitement of opening their presents. That's the magic for me. And for them, because duh, presents.


The haul from last year. Although to be fair, there are presents for cousins/grandparents/etc. under the tree as well. A room that gets filled with presents overnight is magical when you're a kid!

But my kids already have SO much. The toys are overtaking our house and the more they get, the less each gets played with (and the less room we have for more). Don't get me wrong, they'd play with them all if they had the time, but that's not reality. And I hate to see toys go to waste when there are so many other kids out there with barely a fraction of what my kids have.

I don't want Christmas to turn into one big gift grab. If that's the biggest focus, I worry that we'll lose focus on all of the other things that make Christmastime truly special. What I want them to learn is that a magical Christmas doesn't necessarily have to mean more gifts for them, before they start taking it all for granted. Christmas should be just as much about family, traditions, and the excited feeling you get when you see your tree all lit up and decorated, or you bake cookies for Santa, or you pick out a special gift for someone who wouldn't otherwise get anything, and you watch someone smile as they open a gift you picked out especially for them.

I've thought a lot about this recently, and based on some Pinterest inspiration from last year, Adam and I have decided to pare down our gift giving this year in an effort to simplify and focus on enjoying the anticipation and the spirit of the season.

They'll each get just 4 gifts from us: something they want, something they need, something to play and something to read. Santa will also come, but we told the boys we've asked him to take it easy on the gifts this year to make sure there's more to go around for the people who need them. And we'll help Santa out by participating in our local rescue mission's toy/book drive through school. They'll also be very involved in deciding what to get the people on their gift list, now that they're old enough to keep a secret ☺.

We've explained what we are doing this year and why, and I think they're on board. It makes them sad to know that some kids don't get any gifts, and they realize that our house is full of toys. I don't know if that makes them appreciate their toys more, but it certainly does give them perspective. Logan was excited to pick out a book for us to donate, which made me happy to see.

In the meantime, we've already been enjoying the season.

Decorating our tree, listening to Christmas music, finding Jack the Elf every day, and shopping for the cousins and Lorelai (she stayed home to nap while I took Aidan and Logan out this weekend).

Now if only I could find the time to go shopping for everyone *else* on my list, including the boys...

So tell me: How does everyone else achieve balance? Am I crazy for worrying about this now while they're still young and believe in Santa?

Jack is back

Our elf of the shelf, Jack, came back to visit the weekend after Thanksgiving. He's a very polite and observant elf, not mischievous like some of the elves out there who make messes. I guess we lucked out, because there's no way I want to clean up an elf's mess when I already have 3 kids to clean up after! :) He just moves around from place to place every day and stays out of trouble. Simple enough.

His favorite place to hang out when he first comes to visit is Aunt Sarah's painting, in plain view as soon as the kids come out of their rooms in the morning.



Lorelai saw him first this year, and I'm so mad that I didn't get her amazing reaction on video. She was SO excited. She couldn't wait to tell the boys, and they were happy to tell her all about Jack since was too young last year to remember. She kept squatting down and pointing at him, saying "That man not scare me. He not scare me." And when the boys said we weren't allowed to touch him, she said "That man not touch me." It was hilarious.

I did catch her on video when she found him on day 2. The boys had no luck finding him, but Lorelai found him pretty much right away. What I missed on video is her asking her doll where Jack was. This was only a fraction of how excited she was when she first saw him.

They've had so much fun looking for him every day. And Lorelai loves to talk to him. One night during story time, she got off my lap 3 times to tell Jack goodnight and love you. Super cute.



Now if I could just get the boys to stop fighting over who finds him first. Logan has been sneaking out of bed in the mornings to look for him before Aidan gets up, and then bragging that he found Jack first. Then when Lorelai finds him, she tells the boys she found him first. Oy.