Christmas past

I really like Christmas. I had a lot of fun this year thinking up new things to do with the kids but it seemed like there was never enough time to get everything done, which frustrated me. (Being a perfectionist is exhausting!) Even though it sounds sort of insane, I want to come up with a better plan for next year so I have more time to enjoy the season and less time to stress over the things I wanted to be doing. This probably means starting to plan a bit earlier (which stresses me out because I don't even want to think about Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving) and also taking some more time off.

This year I did an advent calendar where I put trinkets or activities in 24 little bags that were hung by our kitchen table. We missed a couple of activities due to circumstances but on those occasions I was able to improvise with something else. I really liked how this worked out. This was my working list of activities/stuff:

1. Elf on the Shelf- new for our family



2. Mexican jumping beans- loved these when I was a kid!



3. Mentos rocket



4. Decorate Christmas tree



5. Christmas books



6. Plant paperwhites



7. Donate a toy ("Giving tree" at work)



8. Prisms



9. Chocolate coins



10. Go see Christmas lights (Gray was sick so we didn't go)



11. Make a gingerbread house



12. Make Christmas cupcakes for Phil’s work



13. Tops



14. Reindeer art (feet/hands)



15. Light-up reindeer noses (learn Rudolph song)



16. Go see Santa (scheduled on a day that the nanny comes so I could avoid the lines/crying)



17. Make gingerbread men (read story)



18. Window-scaling men



19. Christmas movie night (postponed several times due to behavior)



20. Make an ornament



21. Deliver cookies to neighbors



22. Picnic by the Xmas tree



23. Zoolights (never made it due to weather)



24. Reindeer food (ended up giving them "Xmas jammies" bc I didn't have the stuff for reindeer food)

The Elf on the Shelf was a new concept to our family. My two thoughts on this tradition: it is damn hard to remember to move that stupid elf every day and since the elf and the advent calendar showed up at the same time Gray thought they were related and would wake up saying "Let's see what the elf brought us today!"

I love to bake and give plates of cookies/candy away so this is the list of what I made this year: cut out cookies, candy cane cookies, three layer cookies, buttered rum meltaways (yuck), chocolate cookies with mint M&Ms, soda cracker candy, peppermint merengues (meh), pretzel M&Ms, white bark with pretzels and M&Ms, white bark with craisins/coconut/pistachios, puppy chow (YUM, I had no idea it was so good!). I think that's it. I tried several recipes from the MS Cookies cookbook that SUCKED and I was disappointed that I wasted time and money on ingredients. I also gave away a hell of a lot of jam.

This is what I would like to see happen next year:

• Advent calendar with most of the same types of things that I did this year. One idea to remember is to get a copy of Colorado Parent magazine in November because it has a ton of ideas in it.



• Make a gingerbread house based on our house- I tried to do this but messed up one of the walls so it was all catty-wampus and I ended up not finishing it because I was mad.



• Go listen to Handel's Messiah. There are so few showings of this and they are always sold out by the time I start investigating them.



• Consider going to a Children's mass on Xmas eve.



• Make a Xmas cookie/candy plan EARLY, as in Thanksgiving weekend. I'd like to do truffles (and have little paper wrappers that I bought on sale this year to use with them). I'd also like to do hot chocolate spoon mix-ins. Note to self: I really missed Russian Teacakes this year!



• Start working on the packages to be sent in November. It would be easier on us financially, and also a whole lot less stressful if I could get those packages out by, oh, let's say December 10th.



• Take time off. It's truly a luxury for me to be able to bake mid-week, or go shopping during the work day. I took two random days off this year and it was not enough.



• Remember that the kids do not need a ton of stuff- this year we asked for (and really wanted!) gift cards to the rec center so we could send the kids to some different classes and did not get one gift card. That sort of sucked. What we did get was an overwhelming pile of stuff that caused about 100000 fights on Christmas morning.



• Organize the ornament exchange EARLY in November.



• Organize a dinner with friends.



• Christmas "date" with Terri.



• I did a little photo book for each of the boys and put it in their stockings. It was a cute idea and they liked it but it got lost in the shuffle. Maybe do this as an advent activity instead?

I think that about covers it but I reserve the right to add to this list as I remember other things!

** Two more things: MAKE Phil put up the damn lights on Thanksgiving, like it or not, and think about pictures for Xmas cards in EARLY November!