Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Beck's house, with aunts, uncles, and cousins, second thing in the morning.
Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Lewis's house, with cousins, Christmas afternoon.
Christmas 2010 was magical, dreamy, wonderful. If I never have another so good, it will be okay; I believe the high from this one will carry me through. On the other hand, if Christmas with kids is this fun, the holiday may just always be this great. I have always loved things like parades and kids' plays and recitals, so maybe I'm just going to reallllly really love each and every holiday with my kids.**
Calvin has been home, the girls are on an upswing of internal balance and equilibrium, and it was sooooo fun to be with them for the Christmas festivies. We went back and forth between my family and Calvin's family, lots of cousins, lots of attention, lots of fun.
I have loved my first week off from work. Its been amazing time with the girls--that's all that's different--time. Time to stop and work on things that have bothered me about the dynamics between them before, but that I bulldoze over in the frantic pace of regular life. When they've squabbled this week, we've stopped and talked about it, and practiced "learning" how to communicate or treat each other better. I'm not even mean about it, I'm using words like, "learning": "That's okay, Adessa, because you're learning not to grab." I'm relaxed, I'm going to bed early, I'm reading for fun... somebody pinch me. While I know the whole gushing goodwill thing can't last forever, it sure is nice when it comes around and settles for a while.
On Christmas Eve, our local fire station sends Santa out on top of a fire truck. He calls to the kids "Ho Ho Ho" and hands out candy canes. Adessa was invited to climb right up the back of the truck and sit on his lap, which she did, something she has been very clear about not wanting to do before. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she told him: "A present." Good girl! When we were safely back on the ground, again, she exclaimed: "Mommy, I didn't know Santa was real!" the opposite of what most other kids eventually discover. (We've been talking about how some people believe in him, but at our house we know that Mommy and Daddy give the presents.)
** An Aside: I talked with coworker who has three teenaged kids. She said she had to make them get the tree with her, and all they want for Christmas is money, so sitting around opening presents isn't that much fun. Wow. That gave me pause, as I hope for magic and traditions every Christmas. We have the church events, which help and will always be age appropriate as our kids grow up, but... I wonder... how else will we keep the miracle of Christmas feeling miraculous? Please leave a comment if you have suggestions for us! Recommendations for my future self, when the kids are older: *holiday volunteering, *baking together, *creative gifts instead of bought ones, or second hand only Christmases, *drawing names, *Mt. Hermon events, *...?
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