We survived Christmas, although I didn't know if I was going to make it through Xmas Day. When you have kids, Xmas should be about joy, and happy faces of children seeing the packages under the tree, and sisters sharing the fun of getting their very first American Girl dolls together, and families sharing a Christmas meal, and so forth.
But how on earth do people get past the work to reach the joy? I'm flummoxed. I spent days before Christmas cleaning and cooking and wrapping. Stayed awake Christmas Eve getting younger kids to sleep, and waiting for older kids and Dad to get home from midnight service. Got up at four am Christmas Day to sneak into the living room and do the Santa thing. Went back to bed. Got up again when sounds of children roused me. After presents Christmas morning, I cleaned and cooked so Grandma could come for lunch. More presents. Cleaned and cooked so Grandpa and his wife could come for dinner. More presents (house is trashed anew with each round of presents). Rushed out to traditional Christmas evening movie. Came home, cleaned again. Cleaned next day.
I figure I put in about twelve hours of work on Christmas Day, and I don't even do the fancy stuff. No extensive decorating. No elaborate Christmas cookies. No gingerbread houses. No roast goose. We fed Grandma "dirty rice" from a box, for gosh sakes. I should have been able to make time to simply sit and enjoy Christmas.
How do people do it?
About Me
- Thurbersmom
- Bedrock, Missouri
- Six kids, bio and adopted. Dogs, cats, birds, rabbits. Husband Fred (as in Flintstone). And me. Why blog? Well, some people are compelled to write things down, and some people aren't. It's like that tree that falls in the forest with no one there to hear it--if you don't write it down, did it really happen?
