Saturday Morning

The Christmas rush is over. The paper shreds have been cleaned up with all the bits and pieces of packaging that found its way under the couch. The toys are out of the boxes, Rock Band is our new favorite, Monkey boy is amazing on the drums. The leftovers have been hauled out more times than I care to admit. We had a lovely Christmas. Lots of fun, food(way too much) and family. The let down is starting to set in. It is inevitable. After the hours of preparation and anticipation, the days of parties, the bulk of our holiday celebrations are over. I can feel the post holiday mood setting in. I have come to expect it, to understand it, to embrace the feelings and then move on. It’s part of how I savor the holiday even the down time afterwards. The kids will have meltdowns, the tears will flow, the sugar crash will happen..... so is the life with 5 little people. But then things mellow out into the beauty that is the afterglow of Christmas. Today the afterglow is starting to set in. We are reading new books, watching some movies having lots of conversations and just spending time together. It is so rare that we have unstructured time together and the last few days have been glorious. I love when we can all just "be" together. I am taking it all in before we head into next week and the crazy preparations for a New Year's Day flight to Florida for some of us and off to family and friends for the rest of us. So until then I will bask in the afterglow, I will just be and I will be grateful for every moment.

Sweet Christmas!!!

It is Little Christmas Eve and I am done. I have crafted, papered, printed, taped and beribboned anything that would sit still long enough to be done. The packages for my littles are wrapped in neat little towers all tied up with bows. I suspect Santa has done his end as well. I am exhausted but still smiling. In the midst of it all the princess has come down with something. Some kind of fever, cold thing. Not much fun but she has been very subdued today. Bug is snug in her crib all played out from the day. The boys are reveling in the fact that school is out for 2 weeks. The excitement is palpable and is contagious. I love being around it. I love being in it. These little people have blessed me with the joy of their presence. The holiday season is so much more fun through their eyes.

Although it has snuck up on me again, even though I started planning months ago. Life has a way of catching up with you; and fast. But at this point in the game whats done is done and I just want to sit back and enjoy the rest. The girls will look lovely in their dresses. The boys will look handsome too. I will stop and breathe, take it all in and give thanks. For I know in the depths of my heart how very blessed I am at this moment. How we are so fortunate and so many times that goes unsaid. How getting caught up with the list and all that "is Christmas" sometimes overshadows the true Christmas. I will stop now, it is enough and as we gather together to celebrate the birth of our savior I will give thanks...

Christmas blessings to you.

Christmas is Upon Us!

Wow!! We are already in full swing of Christmas activities around here. Thanksgiving weekend is my weekend to decorate. I love to decorate and I spend most of the weekend doing just that. Mr. G. brings up all of my boxes from the basement storage room and I start to plan out where things will go this year. I started by remaking some of my garlands. I took some of my older, scrawnier garlands and put them together with some new elements. I added lights and just about anything I could find to my mantle garland. I love how they turned out. Garlands are so much fun.

Saturday morning we put up the tree, we have an artificial tree this year because of the baby. It is hard to keep up with the needles and I don't want Bug ingesting to many pine needles. I do love a real tree though and try to make this one as "real" as possible. Including using potpourri to scent the tree. We put a few ornaments on the tree. The kids love to look at all the ornaments as we take them out of the boxes. Mr. G. helped do the decorations in the foyer because it takes the really tall ladder to put those up. The kids help where they can and as I ask, but I like to do most of the decorating. We plan our tree trimming party for the first weekend in December every year. It gives me a deadline and a goal to get the house cleaned and dressed before that date. Then I can enjoy the rest of the month and concentrate on just keeping up with the cleaning and enjoying the season.