This morning I realized I haven’t posted for more than a week. I had no idea that the time was slipping by me so quickly. During that week we celebrated my Mom’s birthday, and Jeff’s birthday and finished getting ready for Christmas. It really is sort of a whirl wind of a week. And a big part of our Christmas is on Christmas Eve and I was determined to have a semi-day off for Christmas Day.
All of us moms know that from the moment we gave birth until the moment we die we will be “on duty” or at least “on call”, that is what we signed up for and it’s the Best Job In The World. But there are parts of that job that we would like a break from every now and then. So I set out on a week of cooking, cleaning, wrapping, baking and decorating determined that I was not going to have to do any laundry or major cleaning on Christmas Day and could just enjoy the time with my family. (Taking a day off from laundry is a big deal around here.) By late afternoon on Saturday the house was neat and tidy, all the laundry was done, the gifts were wrapped, and the boys were dressed up and ready for church. Mission accomplished.
Jeff had been on a similar mission only his involved work and farm. By the time he drug himself in from the barn to get ready for church he had been awake for nearly 24 hours straight. So it’s no surprise that he fell asleep at the kitchen table with his dinner. (Thankfully not in his dinner.) An hour or so nap later we gathered up the kids and headed to my in-laws for their Christmas celebration.
For those who don’t know, Jeff is the oldest of six and they all have kids of their own now. So when everyone gets together it’s a crowd. There are eleven kids from 1 to 13 all running, playing and trying to be heard over the crowd. Then Jeff and his brothers get out the A Christmas Story monopoly board to start their annual game. It’s always loud and chaotic. Then, generally sometime around midnight, we gather up our kids and head home.
This year Shane, my early riser, slept in, and left all of us sleep in, until 7:30AM. A rare treat in this house to sleep so late. Then we all gathered around the tree downstairs to open our gifts and watch A Christmas Story. The movie is a family favorite and has become part of our tradition.
Ever since our boys were really little we started staying home on Christmas Day. It was just too much to take two small children all around the county making 5 stops, missing naps, and not getting to enjoy all the new toys they just received. So we stay home and have an open invitation to anyone who wants to see us on Christmas Day to come to our place. Usually it’s just my family, which has gotten a little smaller over the years, who comes but sometimes a few friends and neighbors come over too. This year it was just my Mom & Dad. We had a wonderful time. We got to visit with my sister and brother-in-law in Germany via Skype. We played the new board games and Wii games that the boys got and exchanged gifts.
Dinner was a collective effort this year. Mom made a pork loin and cranberries and brought over. I made the rice and vegetables. It worked out great! Neither of us had too much work to do and we all have a good dinner. We had a wonderful time! It was calm and relaxing just visiting with each other and playing with the kids. Just spending time enjoying our family. That is definitely my favorite way to spend Christmas.
I even managed NOT to have to do any laundry that day. Believe me I’m playing catch up because of it now, but it was totally worth it.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I would love to hear how you spent the day and what your traditions are.
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