We had a busy and slightly chaotic Christmas day...how about you?
We got up very early to open up Santa's gifts...okay, it was ME who got up before everyone else. Can you believe I actually had to wake the kids up?? The kiddos were thrilled with the gifts Santa gave them-Santa was very generous this year because Santa had elves to help him (as always, I am stunned by the generosity of strangers) and didn't want to leave to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house.
We went to Geo's dad's house for a delicious lunch, movie and gifts-the gift of the day? Gabriel got a Blackhawks jersey with his favorite players' number on the back-what a happy boy-after that, we all piled into the car and headed to Geo's mom's place for a light dinner, gifts, and catching up. All of us were stuffed to the gills, content, and tired by the time we got home last night.
Overall, Christmas was a rip roaring success-and exhausting. Both kids woke up this morning with bags under their eyes and I ended up napping on the couch for a bit while Daddy watched the Bears game this afternoon. As fun as Christmas is, it's a lot of build up for one day. It's such an overwhelming experience for everyone. Next year I think we are going to switch it up a bit-I am not sure how, but even adding in our stress relieving movie nights for a few weeks before the big day, it's still too much stress. Something has to give-I'm curious as to how other families do Christmas and keep it low key? Or does everyone have a crazy day and then need a week to recover?
This year as I was baking my mom's gingerbread recipe, I finally began to understand how my parents must have felt around Christmas time-they had three kids to deal with, whereas I only have two, but jeez oh pete. The kids were wound tighter than tops, the house was a constant mess of cookie splatters, tape bits, and stray pieces of wrapping paper. The cat tried to take down the tree more than once (he was content with just chewing the branches and playing with ornaments though lol) and I am fairly certain I developed carpal tunnel syndrome rolling out the four million cookies I made. Quite frankly, I'm exhausted. I'm so thankful the kids had a great day, but I'm also thankful that the holiday is OVER.
The upside, of course, is that right now my two little loves are singing to themselves as they quietly play with the new loot they got. A little while ago, they were sitting at the table together giggling like mad while painting pictures together. Last night Gabe and Geo sat on the floor, heads together reading the instructions for the race track Santa brought and then a half an hour later, they were giggling and cheering each other on as they raced. Bitsy and I had a tea party with Tinkerbell and Silvermyst last night and then built a bakery with blocks. Everyone is happy, everyone is content, even Boni cat, and that made all the chaos worth it.
And now, for what you've all been waiting for...the pictures! (not that I really took a ton, but here's a few)
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