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Monday, December 22, 2008

Ready for Christmas...sort of

Eeek! Tomorrow we leave for Christmas at the in-laws, and I'm sure I've forgotten some critical item that will cause Christmas to be a total disaster. I have packed for everyone, including gifts (wrapped) and hostess baskets for everyone we'll be visiting. This means that if anything is missing, it's completely my fault. Why pack for my husband, you ask? First, there will be many pictures taken during the holidays, and while I love that he is proud of his Alma mater, I'd like for the pictures to show he wore more than one single shirt the entire holiday season. We've also had a few incidents where someone forgot to pack a belt or dress shoes or um, pants other than jeans.

There has been so much snow here that many of my planned errands have had to be nixed completely. I just cannot believe how it can snow for 7 hours straight! It's actually nice to watch, as long as you don't have anywhere to go. If you have one present left or desperately need milk...well, it's not so fun. But Owen and PR played outside most of today, and it was hilarious to see them construct their "igloo." Last year we didn't get very much snow...in fact, we had to build a "snow caterpillar" instead of a snowman because there was just no way we were getting any height.

My husband and I have devised a Christmas plan that we're trying to follow, as far as gifts go. We've explained that Santa visits and fills our stockings. And we give one gift to each child...boy is it hard not to get carried away! (You wouldn't believe how much I can stuff into those stockings. This is my loophole.) Of course, there are gifts from grandparents and cousins, so it's not like my child has 2 minutes of opening gifts and then Christmas is over...but we are hoping to hone in on the true celebration of Christmas.

I've heard some parents do the "three gifts" thing to mimic the gifts from the Maji...I like that idea, too. My biggest struggle is that December is so hectic with holiday parties and rushing around getting ready for the holiday...shopping, decorating, baking. I had hoped to spend time after dinner each night with the kids talking about Christmas. Owen has a Leggo advent calendar my mom sent- which he loves- and I like the idea of us spending time together as a family working on the little leggo project and then reading the story of Mary & Joseph. But this has only happened two nights this month. Maybe next year?

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