We are not going home for Christmas this year, and I have decided that I am ok with that. Yes, it's always what I prefer--it's familiar, it's comfortable and it's done big. A huge Christmas Eve open house with 100+ people, Grandpa and Grandma's Christmas morning brunch with Aunts, Uncles, cousins and a few old friends, and our 17 person (yes, there are really that many of us already) Christmas in the family room that I grew up in. Staying here isn't quite the same, but it doesn't mean that it's worse. It means it is whatever I make it to be, and I aim to make it pretty darn good.
It is December 6th and I have cut out nary a sugar cookie, finished decorating my house, or participated in one Christmas activity, but I'm ok with that too. I have until December 25th, when normally I only have until the middle of December when I'm frantically packing and stuffing Christmas presents into suitcases hoping we are not 15 pounds over the weight limit.
I have fun, new things planned for this year and I'm not in a rush. No, it won't be what I grew up with, but it will be a Christmas full of new traditions for my kids. I'm excited to see them come down in their jammies on Christmas morning and open their presents under our tree. I'm already planning a big breakfast and looking forward to Christmas dinner with my husband's family.
(side note: we won't mention the fact that a certain three year old in this house already went into the closet and unwrapped AND OPENED EVERY.SINGLE.GIFT that my mom left for them. You know, just a normal occurrence during nap time around here.)
This is Brookie's 3rd year decorating her pink tree, and this year we got Joe a blue one. They decorated them together while Nathan chomped on ornaments and generally caused much trouble.
When we travel to N.Y., we put up a small artificial tree because we're only home for the first few weeks of December. Not this year. God knew what I needed and gave me a nice cold night so we bundled up and bought a tall, fat, beautiful smelling real tree.
Nathan's first time sitting in the cart by himself (shows you how much I go to the store), and his first Christmas tree picking-out-outing
We came home for hot chocolate, topped with lots of mini-marshmallows and whipped cream. Warming up with hot chocolate is not something that little Texans get to experience often!
(See the fire going in the fireplace? Yeah, pretty much the best night ever). Pulling out the Christmas decorations is so fun. There are new ornaments to put on the tree that we received for Christmas last year, and old ones that the kids remember from before. Nathan didn't get to do it with us because it was so late and he was fussy, which was probably good because who knows what he would have eaten (and destroyed). We decorated, listened to Christmas music and relished each moment.
(He found this hat among the decorations, put it on, and continued to decorate the tree as if he wasn't the cutest little Santa I ever saw in my life.)
Coming next--my home at Christmas. I'll give you a little tour of what I've done this year. I've kept it simple, but elegant and classy.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
1 comments:
ROFLOL. I am dying about your 3-year-old boy's present antics. I put mine all under the tree.. And I guess, being a mean but wise Mom, I threatened to spank anyone who even touched a gift, let along shook it or opened it. ROFL So far, it's worked! Haha So far we have went home all 13 years of our marriage, but home is only 3 hours away so it's not horrible. I have no doubt you will have a wonderful, beautiful, fun-filled Christmas right where you are!
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