Holiday non-madness
Our kids have Nov birthdays, so it feels like a regular candy-and-present blitz from about Halloween on. We had lots of family come out this fall, and we have *tons* of books and toys and general clutter seeping out from every corner of our house. (And yes, of course: our kids spend most of their time doing other things like
a) getting lots and lots of grocery bags and filling them with junk and carrying them around;
b) wiping surfaces with wipes;
c) cutting up small pieces of paper;
d) dragging the kitchen chairs into various configurations in the living room.
We've tried to buy useful/long-lasting toys (ie, a big dollhouse, wooden train sets) but somehow even still we're overrun with clutter.
Xmas was a wonderful, warm, fun time that I remember fondly as a kid. We had certain things we *always* did that seem funny and insignificant now (ie, loading up the car with presents to go to my grandma's house so that we could unwrap them by her tree--we didn't have a tree; watching "Frosty the Snowman" at her place). So far, we've not established any holiday 'tradition' since family is so far away--sometimes some of our family is with us, sometimes not.
This year, because of the toy creepage and the sense that our kids have *more than* enough 'stuff,' we're going on a little mini-vacation instead--just us. This is a huge breakthrough, as we usually save up our time off for when family is here (because unfortunately we really like our family!). We're going to go stay in a cabin, play in the snow, snowtube, maybe try snowshoeing, go on a horseback ride...but mostly we'll hang out together and eat a lot. We're taking a few presents that the g-parents sent out, but that's it.
This has meant *no* stress for me right now (except for hunting down all the addresses for the holiday letter!) which is perfectly, wonderfully lovely. It's usually a hectic time anyway (finals just ended; grades needed to be posted this week), but I haven't had to rush and spend money on presents that the under 3-foot set in this house doesn't need. Ahhhh....
Here's to a restful holiday season to all.
a) getting lots and lots of grocery bags and filling them with junk and carrying them around;
b) wiping surfaces with wipes;
c) cutting up small pieces of paper;
d) dragging the kitchen chairs into various configurations in the living room.
We've tried to buy useful/long-lasting toys (ie, a big dollhouse, wooden train sets) but somehow even still we're overrun with clutter.
Xmas was a wonderful, warm, fun time that I remember fondly as a kid. We had certain things we *always* did that seem funny and insignificant now (ie, loading up the car with presents to go to my grandma's house so that we could unwrap them by her tree--we didn't have a tree; watching "Frosty the Snowman" at her place). So far, we've not established any holiday 'tradition' since family is so far away--sometimes some of our family is with us, sometimes not.
This year, because of the toy creepage and the sense that our kids have *more than* enough 'stuff,' we're going on a little mini-vacation instead--just us. This is a huge breakthrough, as we usually save up our time off for when family is here (because unfortunately we really like our family!). We're going to go stay in a cabin, play in the snow, snowtube, maybe try snowshoeing, go on a horseback ride...but mostly we'll hang out together and eat a lot. We're taking a few presents that the g-parents sent out, but that's it.
This has meant *no* stress for me right now (except for hunting down all the addresses for the holiday letter!) which is perfectly, wonderfully lovely. It's usually a hectic time anyway (finals just ended; grades needed to be posted this week), but I haven't had to rush and spend money on presents that the under 3-foot set in this house doesn't need. Ahhhh....
Here's to a restful holiday season to all.
posted by Anonymous at 6:16 AM
2 Comments:
Sounds lovely! Today I'll have the pleasure of going north an hour to deliver my dear son to his grandmother, then driving south 1.5 hrs to the "local" IKEA, then stopping at a mall and then hopefully home before traffic in MajorCityCloseBy gets on the freeway. Snowshoeing and hot cocoa in front of a fire? Sounds like paradise!
Yes! Wonderful! Sounds great. Even though there's no snow and snowshoeing and all that jazz, we're still having a great xmas with all the hubby's side of the family.
Hope you have a great, relaxing time.
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