Oh, my gods the parties and presents and everything went off well, but oh boy I am so happy they are over. I know I am not the only one feeling this way by now, and I am not at all surprised as I felt exactly the same way this time last year.
I have worked so *hard* these last weeks to make a holiday for myself and my girls our family. We are busy making traditions to last us our lives, and I so want them to be happy ones. I want the best of my holiday memories with the least amount of the old dramas as possible.
I’ve struggled in the years since I became a mother with all these responsibilities, and I’ve talked about this before. Joe’s family tends to place a much bigger emphasis on going to church as much as possible, and while they are willing to come and celebrate with us, they are more than willing to rely on me to make the party. It’s not easy, but I feel that I’m coming into my own. I’ve learned to set my limits on what I’m going to do, ask for help in specific ways that each person is likely to respond, and accept my role as lead party planner, cook, maid and troubleshooter. Knowing what to expect and being okay with it really does make the job easier to deal with.
But let’s go back to Monday. The kids were off from school, so I invited a couple of little friends over for a play date. R and his mom L from across the street came over, and Julie’s best friend from school E had his mom drop him off. I could not believe how well behaved all these kids were together. We played with modeling clay – that’s my blocking tablecloth on the table – I’ve realized that we need one for the messy craft projects as well.
Then we spent some time in the basement playroom – Julie and E are so cute together. He is just a sweet little guy, and his mom seems really nice too.
I need to call and set up another playdate for next week as well – having the extra kids to help entertain us really made the time fly.
Tuesday, the in-laws did their part in the party making by picking up my girls and taking them to their house for the day, allowing me to run around cleaning the house like a mad woman. I’d done quite a bit of cleaning leading up to this, but the kitchen needed some extra attention especially.
Okay, and I’ll admit to finding time somewhere in there for a bit of spinning.
I finished the silk laceweight I’ve been working on, and Daisy enjoyed watching me ply it.
She looks so relaxed there, but really she was getting ready to pounce on the yarn.
Wednesday was Christmas Eve, and I dragged the girls with me on a last-minute trip to Kim’s Oriental Grocery over in St. Paul for duck guk ingredients. I admit to bribing them with a trip to the Dairy Queen drive through for lunch after they behaved themselves in the store. (And whew – right in the middle of shopping Sophie said the magic “I have to go potty” words. Luckily, they did have a bathroom and we managed to find it in time.)
We came home and I managed to keep the house in order and get the food well started before our guests arrived for dinner. We traditionally have dinner and a gift-game with my cousin Ron, his wife and her family. In the past Ron and Molly hosted, but last year Ron was still recovering from being shot in the chest so we had it here. It’s kind of nice not having to drive the kids out in the cold, so we offered to have it here again. I figure, once the house is already clean, you may as well have as many people over as possible.
Somehow, I didn’t manage to get many pictures other than this one of the girls opening a giant present from our guests. It turned out to be an easel just like the one we already have – a great gift, which our guests graciously offered to return for us.
But really, the party went well. Everyone seemed to enjoy the korean soup even though they’d never had it before, and most of them even sampled the kimchi. We played our usual gift-giving game, and the girls did great even though we kept them up about two hours past their bedtime.
And then we cleaned up, played Santa and I prepped the kitchen for the Christmas Day food. A short sleep later, and we were all up again. Joe’s parents had agreed to come over for breakfast and present-opening, but had to be at their church by 10 for a service which meant that we started the festivities at 8. That’s early for us, especially after a late night before.
The girls opened their stocking gifts while breakfast was cooking,
I made the same egg-sausage strata I did last year, the same cherry turnovers out of a can, and a giant pile of clementines. mmm-MMM!
And, by the way, Uncle Dave and Auntie Jeenie were with us too. The more the merrier! Christmas morning really is more fun with more people to watch the kids with their presents.
There were a lot of presents. Starting with new clothes from Harmony and Haribodji.
A digital camera from Uncle Dave for Julie…
And a toy laptop computer for Sophie, who ran off to the hallway with it to keep everyone else from poking at the keys while she was having her go at it.
A floor puzzle…
A picture-projector thingie for tracing drawings…
Old-school Color-Forms, which Daisy the cat came over to check out as well…
Don’t Spill the Beans!
Something called Castle Logics or something – it’s a puzzle-block set that I thought looked kind of cool.
Hi-Ho Cherry-Oh! (and I thought it was great that the kids stopped to play with their gifts a bit before moving on to the next package)
Both girls got new slippers…
Don’t Break the Ice! (I so badly wanted this game as a kid, and Julie was excited about it since she’s played it at school.)
The toy cash register was popular…
And both girls got new flannel sheets…
The girls look like they’re ready to go into business. And I can’t believe how many battery-operated pieces of plastic we welcomed into our home this year. :-\
Joe got the new watch he asked for.
I got a second wind-up toy to match the one Joe gave me last year. They’re very cute – the one on the right is the new one.
The girls got some little wind-up toys in their stockings, and I took a little video of all four of them together…
I’d almost forgotten having told Joe to buy me these shoes – about six months ago I saw them on someone’s blog and knew they’d make a great Christmas present. So I had him buy them and hide them away. I was so excited when I put them on that I even went and changed socks to better show them off.
I can’t wait to wear them to work!
I gave Jeenie the green scarf, and she was pleased. She and Dave could hardly believe it was the same one they’d seen pre-blocking.
Oh, and I got this little shawl pin. Sweet!
The rest of the day was spent alternately cooking frantically and taking time to help the girls with their new toys. The family arrived and the kids gravitated first to the snacks, then to the new toys.
I’d planned a simple but totally rocking menu. Prime rib, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and gravy. Joe’s cousin brought the salad, and his mom brought a pile of fried shrimp.
My dishes turned out perfectly if I do say so. The prime rib was a-maze-ing. I did my best to ignore the comment from a certain aunt about “aren’t there any more dishes?” Uh, no! You want more fancy food, offer to bring it yourself.
The kids were full of snacks, and didn’t eat much dinner. No surprise there. Sophie’s not in the picture here because she was exhausted and fell asleep before dinner. She was out for the count till the next morning.
Here’s my plate. I used this recipe for the meat, and it was simple to prepare and fabulous eats. Maybe just a little too salty on the outside.
We played the gift game again after dinner, then took the annual Christmas photo. It turned out well – too bad Sophie was missing.
So there you have it. Now it’s time to figure out where to put all these new toys, dig out the disaster area that is my office, think about putting away all the Christmas decorations and get back to the knitting and spinning. I’ll have posts on the new yarn and the progress on my glittens in the next few days. Whew!
Whee! Looks like fun. I know I loved that Break the Ice game when I was a kid.
Since you’re the first person I’ve seen actually wearing those shoes, may I ask where you got them? Zappos.com has been unhelpful and everywhere else turns up high heels with clear plastice heels. Yikes!
It looks as if you guys know how to have a great Christmas!
I am exhausted just reading this. Great shoes — I have those same socks, now I need the shoes
I’m a regular reader of your blog and have greatly enjoyed following the exploits of you and your kids. I wanted to tell you that from everything I’ve read and seen, you’re a fabulous mother who will make fantastic memories for you and your children. They will remember them when they’re adults and look back upon their childhoods with love and great fondness. I have those kinds of memories from my grandpa; now that he’s gone (20 years this January), they give me great comfort and happiness (tinged with melancholy), especially around the holidays and the anniversary of his passing. I’m so glad I have them, and so will your children. Things like those memories are priceless, and they will look back on you as being priceless as well.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.