Holiday Daze
Dec 28th, 2007 by learningumbrella
What a whirlwind of activities we had for the holidays! I am still exhausted, and thank goodness this is a short work week.
First, we were all sick last week, and DH was still too sick to do anything right up until Sunday. On Saturday night, we had my in-law’s annual fancy dress White Elephant party, with all of their extended friends and political buddies. The kids looked cute and behaved themselves, so that was good.
Sunday morning I had church and a farewell reception for our minister who is leaving for sabbatical. I had volunteered to 1) create and teach a Sunday School lesson 2) bring in 50 home-made holiday cookies for the reception 3) coordinate the children giving a gift to the minister 4) set up the children’s new bulb garden they will grow while he is gone and 5) help with crowd herding to keep the reception on track. All with Carbon hanging on me! It was a bit too much.
From there I hurried home, to find DH and Hypatia still not dressed and we needed to hit the road to drive up to my brother’s house! DH wandered off to take a shower while I loaded the kids and the presents in the car (all stereotypes about the amount of time needed to get ready in the morning for men vs. women are reversed in my house).
Christmas with my family was pleasant, even with my Mom and step-Mom both there. They may not be comfortable with each other, but they try to act like it. My kids made out like crazy, even though we had tried to institute a “simple and small” rule for the gifts this year.
On Monday, I had to take the kids shopping to buy me presents (thanks to DH being sick before and going in to work on Monday). And then I joined all the other crazy people at the grocery store to buy what I needed for Christmas dinner. We had a dinner with old family friends of the in-law’s, but I ended up sitting out in the car with a fussy and tired little girl when she started biting people. Yes - biting people. Hopefully that was just a product of extreme exhaustion and not a new trend with her. Luckily I’d brought a book with me, and she fell asleep in her carseat while we waited it out in the driveway.
So, we hung our stocking and left a note for Santa and went to bed. I was up that night with a hernia attack, but Santa came anyway (Carbon was worried I’d scare him off sitting in my recliner). The kids were happy with their stockings (that’s all Santa does here - no big presents) and the other presents they got to open in the morning. Hypatia even got a pony from her Poppy and Alimaw:
It’s as big as our dog and I keep thinking it IS the dog when I catch it out of the corner of my eye.
Finally, we had the in-laws over for dinner, and we cooked yet another big fancy dinner with a prime rib roast (so yummy). Then there were more presents! I feel buried under all this stuff, and the rest of the week has been spent trying to find homes for it all. I’ve rearranged the furniture in the kids’ room (too bad they need beds and dressers for their clothes, because we could just fill it with toys), and I’ve made a pile of things to give away. I’m glad the things I gave them were small - they didn’t need anything with their grandparents at work. But they love it all, and it was a very happy time for them.
My goodness, look at all the PINK! And what a beautiful new dog you have!
DH and I always have a fight right before going to a family function, company party, or other event. It starts with me and the kids, dressed and pretty much ready to go, and him sitting in his boxers and socks at the computer/tv/phone saying, “Just a minute.” It always ends with me saying something like, “I’ve gotten myself and 3 kids ready, cooked and packed a side dish and an overnight bag for everyone, loaded and warmed up the car.. and you can’t even manage to dress yourself on time.” We are ALWAYS at least 5 minutes late. But, it always works out okay.
Glad your hairy holiday turned out well too.
What a wonderful whirlwind! I hope you will take some time to relax and kick your feet up…you deserve it!
Okay, I hope all are on the mend now as we head into the new year. I had to chuckle about the pony because when I am blurry eyed in the morning before coffee, he could do a real number on my psyche.
Whew! I hope you are feeling better and have some downtime in the next few days. Good thing you did all that cleaning out a few weeks ago…
This is something I’m sharing with family bloggers, as a suggestion, and a plea, to use the New Year to learn something fascinating with the kids. Help your kids safely navigate the Internet to learn why 2008 is being called “The Year of the Frog.” Like Kermit said, it’s hard being green, especially today. Amphibians face the worst mass extinction since the dinosaurs — but there is a sensible, very achievable way to stop it. Learn about it, with your kids, by visiting www.amphibianark.org, or my blog, www.frogmatters.wordpress.com. Zoos around the world are ringing in this special new year by having kids play the leapfrog game on New Year’s Eve. But still, on the Web sites I just mentioned, you can download a fun, New Year’s frog mask, see videos that explain it all, including one by Jeff Corwin, and learn a lot of fascinating things about amphibians. The main thing killing frogs isn’t what you’d suspect — it’s a fungus that broke out of Africa in the 1940s. Oh, and instead of banging pots and pans at midnight, go outside and play family leapfrog. Have fun. Hoppy New Year.
“all stereotypes about the amount of time needed to get ready in the morning for men vs. women are reversed in my house”
The same is true at our house.
It sounds like you need a good solid break. I was exhausted just reading what you did at church!
Take care, I hope you are feeling better by now.