Christmas week- overwhelming and relaxing all the same
It's funny how time off can be so relaxing on one hand and completely overwhelming on the other. I find that often true with Christmas week. Given the planner that I am, there really isn't "last minute" running around to do. But, I was cooking this year, for Christmas eve and day so there was some grocery shopping to do, and when there are 8 people in tow vs. the normal 5 things can get nutty.
We decided to do Italian for Christmas eve - lasagna, meatballs and sausage, and then prime rib with potatoes and asparagus on Christmas day. Neither meal was too hard, just had to plan accordingly given we were going to 3pm children's pageant and then church at 3:30 on Christmas eve. Arnie was home so he put the lasagna in at 4pm, thank goodness as it would have been a late start otherwise. This allowed us to eat earlier enough so the kids could be in bed by 8:30pm. That is the only day they have gone to bed early, I find we stay up so much later when my parents are here, and sleep late too :)
Christmas day the tough scheduling part is to time it so you really only eat 2 meals - breakfast and dinner, with some light snacking in between. We split the rounds of gift opening, as it was overwhelming. On Christmas eve night the kids opened from my brother and one gift from grandma and papa. The morning of Christmas they opened from Santa and mom and dad. Then in the afternoon they opened from my sister, my two aunts, the rest from G&P and their great-grandma. With my large family it can get quite overwhelming the amount of stuff. It all adds up. Later this week we are going to 'box up" some old toys to bring to a women's shelter, to teach the kids about giving and make room.
I think Christmas went fine. I put out some Italian antipasto, cheese and pretzels with dip. That seemed to hold everyone over until dinner at 6pm. We had a wonderful meal followed by dessert and some games. The kids have loved playing with all their new stuff and have been pretty well behaved. Today we even found some time to make some returns (just my mom, grandma and me). Tomorrow we are going to go to Columbus, Indiana...we have never been and something to do. Believe it or not it is supposed to be 70 degrees here tomorrow, a record high, so we will take advantage of it and head outside.
I hope your holidays went well and you enjoyed the time with family and the blessings it brings.
We decided to do Italian for Christmas eve - lasagna, meatballs and sausage, and then prime rib with potatoes and asparagus on Christmas day. Neither meal was too hard, just had to plan accordingly given we were going to 3pm children's pageant and then church at 3:30 on Christmas eve. Arnie was home so he put the lasagna in at 4pm, thank goodness as it would have been a late start otherwise. This allowed us to eat earlier enough so the kids could be in bed by 8:30pm. That is the only day they have gone to bed early, I find we stay up so much later when my parents are here, and sleep late too :)
Christmas day the tough scheduling part is to time it so you really only eat 2 meals - breakfast and dinner, with some light snacking in between. We split the rounds of gift opening, as it was overwhelming. On Christmas eve night the kids opened from my brother and one gift from grandma and papa. The morning of Christmas they opened from Santa and mom and dad. Then in the afternoon they opened from my sister, my two aunts, the rest from G&P and their great-grandma. With my large family it can get quite overwhelming the amount of stuff. It all adds up. Later this week we are going to 'box up" some old toys to bring to a women's shelter, to teach the kids about giving and make room.
I think Christmas went fine. I put out some Italian antipasto, cheese and pretzels with dip. That seemed to hold everyone over until dinner at 6pm. We had a wonderful meal followed by dessert and some games. The kids have loved playing with all their new stuff and have been pretty well behaved. Today we even found some time to make some returns (just my mom, grandma and me). Tomorrow we are going to go to Columbus, Indiana...we have never been and something to do. Believe it or not it is supposed to be 70 degrees here tomorrow, a record high, so we will take advantage of it and head outside.
I hope your holidays went well and you enjoyed the time with family and the blessings it brings.
posted by Millennium Mom at
5:05 PM
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