OMG it's December.
I told Andy yesterday that I just need a half day to catch up on life admin, like photo Albums (still undone from December) and budget and house stuff and all the stuff which I need to do on a monthly basis (or ideally more, our house is kind of a mess)
Then decided that instead I could just not catch up on anything and wait like 9 more months and take a week off to catch up instead.
My planning is not great at the moment. Check out this weekly plan!
On the plus side, I was very excited to get a family Advent calendar this year. It's a Jam advent calendar from Bonne Maman. The kids are delighted. Many conversations were had about who opens doors and in what order. Clara got to open first and Lily helped, because we are (apparently) going smallest to biggest in size.
I have lots of fun stuff planned in December and I am kind of dreading a lot of it. We went to our local village Christmas fayre on Saturday and I had thoughtfully bought the kids some light up wands because every year there is a light up wand seller who sells extortionately priced wands and I found discount wands at the local pound store. The kids immediately said they didn't like my poundland wands and wanted other wands, or balloons, or food, or cake... basically they wanted STUFF! and not the stuff I had. OTHER STUFF. It was very stressful and we went home.
Is Christmas just a pile of things and events that should be nice but are actually made kind of awful by the Christmas buildup? Inquiring minds do not want to know.
This evening we ordered our Christmas cards! It might be world record early for us, and also they are New Years cards because I don't trust myself to actually post on time. We have a spreadsheet of year on year Christmas cards and addresses and this year we had 24 for the UK and 19 for the USA. Cards come in sets of 20. So we ordered 60. I might be reaching out for more addresses from my blog-o-friends.
Thing I am excited about this week:
- Going to the office on Wednesday
- Doing more stretching and mobility on Peloton
- Gym with my gym buddy on Thursday
- Omelettes with Jalapenos and Mozzarella cheese (new 10am second breakfast fav)
- Maybe getting some photo albums updated?
- Sleep
- Kids school Christmas Disco on Friday
What are you excited about this week? Are you a Christmas lover, a Christmas buildup lover, or a total Grinch?
I love Christmas but I do feel like all the other things that come with the season can be pretty darn exhausting. We've stepped back from a few commitments this year (NO HONOUR CHOIR!!!), and still life feels very...full (aka: busy). It's good, fun stuff but sometimes there is just a lot of it.
ReplyDeleteI think what you're describing with the wands is one of my least favourite parts of parenting. When you plan ahead to do something to bring JOY and it's met with a negative reaction. It deflates me so much (and often makes my blood boil). I think leaving was the best solution, but it's a real letdown as a parent. Gold stars from me for thinking ahead and buying the glow sticks/wands ahead of time!!!
100% agree about the wand type scenario being really tough as a parent. You do a nice thing and they don't like it, want more, want different, etc. Rarely the delight anticipated (nevermind the gratitude, which I know comes later developmentally). Sigh... -rachel
DeleteThank you Rachel & Elisabeth for your moral support! I think it was the differential between the planned joy and the experienced joy that I found most jarring.
DeleteThere's a quote from Anne Lamott that goes something like "expectations are resentment waiting to happen" and I very much live in that grumpy gap more than I would like to admit. -rachel
Delete“ I have lots of fun stuff planned in December and I am kind of dreading a lot of it.” - this is so relatable! lol!! That is totally my energy at times. But staying home with young kids is awful at this stage of life. So the go go go life is for the best but leaves me so exhausted!
ReplyDeleteI love Christmas but hate gifts. I wish they were not such an area of emphasis. I loved them as a child so try to keep that in mind. But I just have the influx of plastic stuff that we tend to receive. Sigh. I suggested a bunch of experience type of gifts but don’t think anyone is buying them. They are not fun to unwrap but it’s the gift that keeps on giving. I think our Santa gift will be a membership to the science museum since the boys had a blast there.
I would love to do experience gifts but am very aware that kids don't necessarily understand that as a gift since it's also kind of what we do on a daily basis. I remember I offered to exchange the kids halloween candy for a trip to soft play AND an ice cream and the kids were 100% not interested. I think it's hard for them to enjoy an experience gift because they get experiences often, and I don't think they really see the value difference in a trip to softplay (£6) vs a trip to legoland (£60)...
DeleteMemberships are such a good gift! We bought our castle memberships in the summer but maybe when it runs out I can put it on the gift wish list for next year.
That's such a cute photo of the family!
ReplyDeleteOhhhh all the "Christmas fun." It does feel like it gets very tiresome very quickly. I am so glad that my kid has gotten to the age where we don't have to be on the move all the time, and we can simply cuddle and watch Christmas movies together.
One of the things I enjoy in memory about newborn twins was watching a christmas film every day or two... I would love to snuggle and watch christmas films with my kids someday. Soon! Christmas films will be way better when I can also get 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep after
DeleteI am almost a total grinch lol the external and internal pressure to do things, buy things, make things, gift things, return things, bake things, cook things is just UGH!!!!! I do love the lights and the overall spirit of Christmas- kindness, togetherness, reflection.
ReplyDeleteDaria from NJ (momofchildren)
Thanks Daria for your perspective - Lights, Kindness, Togetherness and Reflection are awesome! It's hard to avoid commercialism with kids and the pressure to make everything awesome.
DeleteI didn’t grow up celebrating Christmas so I don’t feel a lot of pressure to maintain certain traditions or do things a certain way but this time of year still gets busy.
ReplyDeleteYour experience with the wands is very relatable. It’s so frustrating to take my kids to a fun kid event only to have them pester me to buy more stuff. Or that they don’t like the snacks I’ve brought.