Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Tis' the season...blah, blah, blah...yadda, yadda, yadda, and all that stuff...

I must admit, if you couldn't tell by the title, that I have been a bit of a Grinch this year. More than a bit, more like A LOT. The month started out cheery, even with my pneumonia, I was in good spirits and happy for the holiday season. I was really excited to decorate our tree this year, I even got out every last Christmas decoration I could, putting those up as well. I made ready all of the holiday movies and music, and I even had fun doing my shopping this year. But the week of Christmas, my mood changed. I don't know if it was the stress of wrapping, cooking, cleaning, or taking care of three very sick kids the week before(I swear my house still smells like throw up, even though we shampooed the carpets multiple times,) but I was ready to throw in the towel before the big day had even arrived. And on Christmas day itself, I was worse than Ebenezer Scrooge. Even now I am still a bit ba-hum-buggy. I know I am certainly not the only one that suffers from the stress of the holidays, but I have worked out a plan for next year that will hopefully help keep my spirits up for the whole of December. I am boycotting Christmas! Now before you get too mad at me, hear me out. My plan, is to remove myself from all things stressful--no family parties, no mother or in-law Christmas, no wrapping, no cooking, no cleaning, no secret Santas with siblings--just me, my handsome hubby, and the kids on a Christmas get-a-away. I want to do the Polar Express next year for Christmas Eve and spend the night in a hotel! We will have Santa bring the kids one gift each, our gift to them being the train ride and hotel stay. What do think? I think it sounds wonderful!, The only tricky part will be carefully hiding the gifts in the car on the way up. Oh, and Matthew's family, we are still doing gifts for our respective parents next year, so count us in on the next big family present :) Matthew is all for it, and since the Christmas Eve ride fills up really fast, I will be booking our reservations in January, and breathing easy for the next 11 months! But in the meantime, here are some highlights from the family parties and Christmas day activities.














4 comments:

Monica said...

Your Christmas plan sounds fantastic, I think I told you that on Christmas. Seriously. I don't even have my own kids and I was stressed about Christmas. Doing our two families on one day was too much, and I felt bad because we were only with my family for a couple hours, as opposed to the in-laws for 6ish. When we have a family of our own and our kids are old enough, we're doing just our own Christmas with a cabin in the mountains.

Kelly Ann said...

That sounds like a wonderful idea. I too let myself get stressed with all the shopping, wrapping, and especially baking that by the time Christmas day comes around I am exhausted. Looks like from your pictures you still had a wonderful time.

Aaron, Vicki Tunell said...

I think the Polar Express sounds so great! I love the cute pictures, especially Parker :) That little guy is so fun. Way to go on eliminating the stress! Hope you are doing well

Vicki

Kristen Crandall said...

Thanks for the invite! I might not always leave a comment, but I am checking in periodically. Hope you are all doing well =)