My family and I are all in need of a break. Daniel and Nathan, who have been juggling work and school, finished their finals and heaved a great sigh of relief. Matthew, who’s crazy schedule has meant that we have seen him pass through the house occasionally on the way to his next stop, needs a good long sleep. Malia is in dire need of a break from all the social drama that seems to infest every middle school everywhere all the time. Kevin could really use a mental break from work and powered off his computer on Wednesday relieved to have a vacation. As for me, the headaches have been pretty severe and I’m so very glad that we have some easy days and easy meals planned. So, for all of us, having a simple plan to celebrate Christmas was just what we needed.
Last night we gathered with my kin at my parents’ house like we usually do. Our Christmas Eve festivities have naturally become calmer as all the grandkids have grown up, but last night was even more mellow than usual. Rachael had sick kids, so they hunkered down at home which meant Malia was the youngest one there. Neither Adam nor Seth were there this year, so in addition to being an older group, we were small in numbers. We ate, read the Christmas story from the Bible, had a little live music, and then headed home. Once home, we spent a few minutes finishing up our Names of Christ ornaments, gave our traditional Christmas Eve spiritual gifts, and went to bed. No one was sleepless with excitement. No one was all sugared up by Christmas cookies. No one was anxious to get an early start this morning. It was a calm, simple evening where we were able to focus on the Savior and anticipate a calm day ahead.
This morning we got up at a reasonable hour and started our Christmas festivities around 8:00. Stockings were opened while our breakfast (which was all prepped on Saturday) cooked. There were a variety of little goodies for all including kitchen gadgets for Daniel and Nathan, something they have been hoping for since they made key lime pie without all my cool tools and found it much more difficult. Matthew had some of his favorite allergen free treats as well as a tiny measuring tape just right for a key ring and an itty bitty Nerf gun that actually works! He was a super good sport and gave us a photo op imitating one of our favorite Kodak moments from many years ago. Malia had some rubber ducks, and then some rubber ducks, and a couple of rubber ducks. For some reason, Malia has been really into rubber ducks of late, so it was very fun for her. She also got a tiny pullback school bus, which she loves, because the bus ride to and from school is her favorite part of the school day. But perhaps my favorite stocking stuffers were the puking stress balls. Yes, you read the right. There were puking stress balls all around. All other activities stopped for a good fifteen minutes while everyone played with their puke. It led to laughter and some highly entertaining conversations.
“I threw up in a bag.” -Matthew
“Oh! There’s the extra puke!” -Daniel
“I need to go puke on the table.” -Nathan
Malia: “Only at Matthew.”
Ok. I know it’s gross, but it was also really funny!
Our Christmas shopping this year was mostly simple. Kevin had some models he wanted so he picked up the ones he has been looking at and then told all of us what we got him for Christmas. That was probably everyone’s easiest present to get. 😂 I got luggage, which I selected and purchased myself, so another easy gift buying situation. Daniel gets to go to Italy and Switzerland with the USU jazz orchestra next summer, so he got money to use on his trip. Easy gift #3. Nathan was in desperate need of a tall body friendly computer set up when he started working as a virtual employee for the MTC back in September, so we paid for an ergonomic keyboard and mouse earlier in the fall to make his days less headache prone. Another easy gift. Matthew got his band tour in April for Christmas and was in need of a new phone over the summer, so those were easy, if expensive, gifts. Malia was the only one who we struggled to shop for. In the end, we got her a book series she has had a hankering for as well as a microwave s’more maker and an assortment of peanut free fancy chocolate bars. S’mores have been one of her go-to fast, easy treats of choice lately, so we gave her the tools to up her s’mores game. We also got Malia a light box. She has been making flip books lately, and a light box makes creating them much simpler. Toss in a few small Lego sets because we can’t do Christmas without Lego over here and some Happy Little Dinosaurs themed t-shirts carefully selected for each child, and gift giving was pretty simple for Kev and me this year.
As has been pretty common over the past several years, some of the gifts the kids selected were for pure entertainment value. Nathan gave Matthew a brass-stache which Matthew was happy to sport with the practice trumpet he got from Daniel. Nathan selected a spatula with a built-in microphone handle so I can cook and sing (two things I love) at the same time. Matthew gave Malia some cow themed wall art that had all of us laughing out loud. And Nathan fed Malia’s rubber ducky fetish with a beanie sporting a traditional yellow ducky. Even the gifts I selected for my sister Esther were mainly of the belly laugh inducing variety. We gave her some cute Christmas tree cookies along with the bleeding gingerbread man, which did inspire laughter. She was also the recipient of some owner and pet socks-matching footwear for her and Morty, her dog. I swear Morty has to be the most patient dog on earth. Not only did he let Esther put socks on him, but he left them on long enough for her to take pictures and a video as proof. 😂😜
Breakfast was overnight breakfast casseroles of the eggy and egg-free varieties and dinner was our traditional ham and cheesy potatoes, all of which I prepped on the 23rd as Christmas Eve was on a Sunday this year. I have to say that I actually loved doing it that way. I usually spend much of Christmas Eve standing in the kitchen prepping food but doing it a day earlier allowed me to relax and enjoy Christmas Eve as well as Christmas day. I suspect I may be revisiting this particular prep schedule in the future.
In keeping with the rest of this month’s celebrations, Christmas was lovely and low key. It was relaxing and a time for all of us to take a breather and just let things be easy for a bit. We still had a good day, but when asked, all my kids commented that the slower, more relaxed pace of the day was fantastic. They needed it. I needed it. It was simply a wonderful day.
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