Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Merry and Bright

The holiday season is upon us. I have mixed feelings about the winter holidays. We just haven't gotten into a routine or found any traditions that really stick yet. This is mainly because we've traveled most years to go visit G's mother, and this year will be no exception.

Last year was the only year we stayed home and didn't have any visitors, and I basically threw a bunch of stuff at the wall to see what would stick and re-appear in future years. Not a lot did. Despite the kids being at that "magical age", the whole Santa/gifts thing sort of fell flat. Sure they were excited to open presents, but I think it was overwhelming and led to some meltdowns later in the day. The gingerbread house building was a DISASTER. Some of the Christmas specials I remember loving as a child didn't quite hold up to the test of time. My family's traditional Christmas morning breakfast of pop-from-a-tube cinnamon rolls and OJ was disgustingly sweet for most of us.

Really the main thing I loved about the holidays was decorating, and specifically, decorating with lights indoors. Something about the little twinkly lights on a dark gloomy evening just lifts my spirits immediately. So I put up our little tree and strung a garland and lights on our banister, and put out our wreath and some greenery and holly berries for the window boxes.

I also love baking gingerbread cookies. So we'll do that, most likely when we're at MILs. I'll also bake some chocolate chip gingerbread because yum. We stopped our annual bake-for-work marathon when L came around, and I have no desire to go back to that anytime soon, but small batches for the family, where the kids can help and its OK if things look terrible is more fun.

I took the kids to look at a holiday light show in a park, and they were underwhelmed with the show but enjoyed sitting by the fire pits and eating junk food. I'd like to do that again or just go look at the neighborhoods that go all out with the outdoor decorations. We usually hunker down on cold evenings, so deliberately going somewhere and being outside after dark is novel and therefore special to the kids.

I used to LOVE going to fancy work holiday parties and getting to dress up! I know people complain about it, but I love having an opportunity to wear a fancy dress and heels and sparkly stuff once a year! Neither of our jobs has anything like that anymore---G's party is for staff only and is right after work. Ours is actually AT work and is lame. I'm skipping it this year, since my friends from out of town will be here on Friday. I miss that aspect of the holidays, so I did arrange 2 outings, with my book club and with some work friends for drinks next week. Not an occasion to dress up, but at least to get out and celebrate!

Gifts...I'm not sure what I'm going to do. The boys expect something. I really don't think they believe in Santa. But they know Christmas=gifts, so I will get them something and have it under the tree for when we get home from MILs. I like the "something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read" approach, but I may narrow it down even further because they don't need anything, including clothes. So maybe one book & one toy per kid?  I don't want to give them their gifts AT MILs because she will be sure to shower them with a million things we won't even be able to fit in our suitcases, so dragging gifts there and back is just nuts. It'll also brighten the disappointment from having to leave the life of leisure and spoiling at grandma's!

Then we have B's birthday. Again, MIL gifts will suffice until we get home. I want to get him a bike, which will take some research, there's no rush since he won't ride much until spring anyways. As a placeholder I'll get him something small like a Lego kit he was asking about. We aren't doing a friend party this year, since we're spending enough on plane tickets (and by the time I started planning, literally every venue was booked, and I'm NOT doing it at home again!) He'll get a family party with cake & pizza.

I'm on call for New Year's. So no pretending to celebrate or care! Whoo! (Don't get me wrong, after years of being on call for most holidays, I very very very much appreciate only having to do one major holiday after two years. But since I have to do it, I'll look on the bright side of not having to make an effort to stay up until midnight!) 

I know this post sounds rather matter-of-fact, but I actually am looking forward to this season (at least the days pre-MIL visit) this year! I love seeing the lights up everywhere, the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg everywhere, trying to think of how to delight and surprise my kids. Its such a nice way to spend these dark days, and I much prefer it to the holiday-less dark frozen stretch of January through March (though I'm trying to think about this, and stay positive!)

10 comments:

  1. Your plans sound lovely, and reading this has actually made me look forward to the holiday season a little bit more. I like the lights and the baking, but the rushing around and seeing certain relatives just makes me tense. This year will be interesting- I work over New Years, but have 8 days off over Christmas, so I am hoping that things will be a little more relaxed this year. We'll see.

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    1. ugh the visiting relatives and traveling is the part I hate. I'm trying to focus on what I DO love, instead---as an overreaching life philosophy, actually!

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  2. WHEW. Just booked plane tickets for my MIL to visit us. It was touch and go there for a while because flight prices were crazy for the time around the holidays they wanted to visit and my miles were blocked. So now she's coming next week instead. WHEW. Though that did involve a $75 "expedite fee" on my miles which is annoying, but not as annoying as paying $500 for tickets.

    I ordered presents from us for the kids today. I'm getting DC1 a bento box to replace the sandwich holder he lost and a book of star wars music (one of these will be for his birthday). DC2 I'm getting a couple of books (one with a cd in it). I know that might sound lame, but they're getting so many presents from relatives! I have not thought ahead to his birthday yet, but now we know there won't be any extended family around during that day so that makes things a little easier. There will definitely be cake!

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  3. Catherine Newman puts out a great list of gift ideas for kids every year. Her kids are much older than yours, but if you follow the links to earlier years then I think you'll hit more age-appropriate ideas.

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    1. http://www.benandbirdy.blogspot.ca/2015/11/gift-guide-2015.html?m=1

      Forgot the link!

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  4. Kids and holidays. In my experience there are a lot of non-magical moments with little ones and holidays. For some kids the departure from the ordinary brings out magic. For mine, it has often brought out meltdowns. Until my youngest cleared 3 years I hated all holidays. So much work so little fun. I admit that things are better now that the kids are 4 and 6. Not necessarily magical but better.

    Weirdly, I actually try to downplay many of the anticipation aspects of the season. We put up our tree 1 week before Christmas. I don't discuss Santa unless my kids bring it up (or it is in a book we are reading). I try to keep much of December business as usual.

    Still I do try some small nods to the season. We do holiday books as our nightly read each evening in December. My kids do have the cheap chocolate Advent calendars (the kids you get in the grocery store). A daily tiny chocolate at breakfast does sometimes improve moods. One holiday movie per weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas (Charlie Brown, Forsty, the Grinch and Rudolph). We also have indoor and outdoor lights that are well-loved by all.

    The thing I try to remember about my own holiday memories is that very few of them come from my really young years. I have a few memories of being 5 and 6 but really my strongest memories start around age 7-8. So when the holidays are going poorly and I can't find my stride I often remind myself that we have many years to try and get it "right."

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    1. so true. no pressure to get it just right immediately, there are many years ahead. the decorating early is for me myself and I. I love looking at the lights!

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  5. The only thing we do during the holidays is Elf on a Shelf (but ours isn't watching us, she just hides and the kids find her. They love it, and I have fun trying to think of places to put her (what? I don't have a lot to engage my mind these days...) My daughter makes Christmas cookies with my mom. We take them to Santa. We go to this one street near my work that does up the lights BIG TIME. That is about it, and it's enough.

    I'm never invited to a holiday party and that always makes me sad. My work is doing something this year (last year it got scratched for some reason) and those have been fun in the past, so I hope it's fun this year. But it's nothing fancy. My husband's is right after work and spouses are NOT invited. I never have anything to dress up for, but I've stopped being disappointed about it. It is what it is.

    We don't do many decorations around the house because we can't store them. I get the kids a set of ornaments to represent what they are into that year (my daughter got Marvel comics and my son got Thomas the Train this year, plus I got a set of Sesame Street ones and a Daniel Tiger character circle with each of their names on them. I also make an ornament with a picture every year for myself and each set of grandparents. So that is fun. Our tree is really our only decoration and I want it to be a reflection of who we are and have been. I'm really enjoying the ongoing project.

    So yeah, that is our holiday season. I think my comment sounds down about it, but it will be fine. I do wish some things were different, but I also appreciate what is good.

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    1. when I see the sparkly fun things for sale this time of year (i know, I know, don't look) I start getting disappointed about no dressing up. Honestly, I'm sure that if an event actually came up I'd regret deciding to wear strappy dresses in the freezing cold and go out late at night!

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