Is Christmas Over Yet?

Just wondering if you guys are feeling the same way? It's been a very hectic Christmas for us this year, and we stayed in town!!! We didn't travel this year, but instead decided that staying home would be more 'relaxing' and 'less stressful'. What a joke! In hindsight, I'm thinking that maybe we should have traveled to someplace - anyplace - just so that I wouldn't have had so much to do around here!!!

It all started on Friday when I decided that we needed to finally get the house picked up. And, when I say 'picked up', I'm not just talking about the casual stray toy or messy bedroom. This house looked like a full-blown war zone! The kids (Alex & Morgann) had their birthday party's last weekend (the 17th) and raked in the toys! I just knew Santa was in a panic at this point because they had gotten almost everything they'd asked him to bring for Christmas. It was totally unexpected that every child that came to the party would bring a gift for both kids. I figured that Alex's friends would bring him a present, and Morgann's friends would bring her a present - maybe I should have mentioned that on the invite, but too late now! So anyway, after the birthday party, my dad & his wife asked if they could come over with the kid's Christmas presents so they could watch them open them, which we did. ALL of them! By this point, I was beginning to feel a panic attack coming on because it was going to fall to me to find a home for all of these new play things! I started making mental notes of where certain items might finally land in the playroom or bedrooms, but it was a mystery to me as to how I'd go about getting those rooms cleaned up enough to add to the stacks & piles already there!

So Friday morning, mommy became a cleaning tyrant. My kids probably thought that they'd died and gone to hell. When I clean, I CLEAN. We get trash bags out and start filling them up - either for the trash gate outside or a local charity. No one was allowed to stray from the task at hand, and the spanking spoon was never far from my reach. The kids knew that mommy meant business, and that if they ever wanted to see the light of day again, they'd better hop to it. So, they did. It took us about 3 1/2 hours to clean the playroom, Morgann's bedroom and the boy's bedroom, clean the bunny's cage, and to vacuum all aforementioned rooms. Once that task was conquered, we had to move downstairs to start gathering up all of the toys from the office, entryway, living room, laundry room, dining room, and yes, kitchen. We spent another 2 hours piling all of the toys up on the table, throwing all of the new kitchen toys (Morgann got a play kitchen for her birthday with a full set of food, pots & pans, and dishes) into an empty diaper box that I discovered had never been thrown out, and finally vacuuming all rooms downstairs. Then the time came for us to lug all of the downstairs piles upstairs. More fun!!!

Needless to say, we managed to finally finish the cleaning chores by around 6PM. Poor daddy had been banished outside to mow and clean up leaves as soon as he'd gotten home, so we were all totally exhausted. I'm happy to say that we did allow the kids some outdoor playtime - daddy raked up a huge pile of leaves in the backyard and the kids giddily jumped into them over & over again. After putting the kids to bed, I still had many items on my list that had to be completed before I went to bed - make deviled eggs, sweep & mop the kitchen/breakfast room floors, vacuum the living room, and make sure the jeans had been put into the drier so we'd have clothes to wear on Saturday!

But, alas, our busy weekend was just beginning!

Christmas Eve morning arrived and my day was underway by 7AM. All of the kids were awake and begging me for breakfast, so I quickly provided them with toast or cereal bars. While they ate, I started making my Chicken Alfredo Lasagna which we would be eating for Christams Eve Dinner with Michael's family. After getting it all put together and into the fridge for storage, I quickly dressed myself and headed out for a 10AM nail appt - my only relaxation time for the next 3 days. Upon my return home, Michael & I tag-teamed each other to get the kids each bathed & dressed, fed some lunch (I don't even remember what we ate) and then to get ourselves showered & dressed before family started arriving at 2PM. The plan was to have dinner around 3PM, but those plans were changed due to the very late arrival of a few of Michael's relatives, who shall remain nameless. So while waiting on those tardy guests, Michael's mom & grandma helped us to fold & fill-up our luminarie bags. We'd never done luminaries before, but it's something that our entire subdivision does, and we didn't want to be the only house to not have them! It turned into a fun event with all members of the family participating - while grandma & great-grandma folded the bags, the kids poured sand into them, and Michael & I took them to the front yard and lined the sidewalk and edge of the yard with them. We finally ate around 5PM. After finishing up a yummy dinner, we all went outdoors to light our luminaries, and greet a few of our neighbors. We ended up down the street helping another family light their luminaries, having a quick drink and just visiting and having a wonderful time. As we walked home, Michael & I were commenting on how much we love this neighborhood and hope that we will be here for many years to come :-)

After getting the dinner dishes washed and the excess food put away, it was time to open gifts. This is another event that takes several hours to complete because each person, beginning with the youngest, opens 1 gift. Everyone "ooohs!" & "aaahs!" at the present, then the next youngest has their turn, and so on. I think this year took about 2 1/2 hours! Once the gifts were opened, we attempted a quick clean-up and then sent the kids off to dreamland. It took some coaxing and many reminders that Santa would skip our house if they didn't hurry up and get to sleep, but I think we managed to get all 3 down for the night around 10PM - 2 hours passed bedtime. MIchael & I waited for a bit before assisting Santa with his duties, then finally getting to bed ourselves around midnight.

Sunday morning, we were startled awake by Alex who came dashing into our room with the announcement "Mom & Dad, Santa brought me exactly what I asked for!", then he was gone as quickly as he appeared. We heard the pitter-patter of footsteps heading upstairs and into his sister's room to startle her awake with a similar announcement. Then about 30 seconds later, we heard them come downstairs again and begin their own "ooohs!" and "aaahs!" as they yelled & waited fairly impatiently for MIchael & I to drag ourselves out to the living room. While the kids dumped out their stockings and played with their new toys, Michael & I could think of only 1 thing - getting back to bed for at least 1 more hour of sleep. We managed to crawl back under the covers, but sleep never came thanks to the frequent questions and queries from our little ones. So, after another hour, I decided that it was indeed time for us to get up and begin getting dressed for the next round of family members slated to arrive around 11:30. While Michael worked on getting the kids all bathed & dressed, I headed to the kitchen and began working on a platter of Cheese Enchiladas, my contribution to the Mexican-themed Christmas Day meal. My sister & her husband, our cousin and her fiancee' arrived and while the women worked on getting the rest of the dinner cooked, the men played with the kids in the living room.

After dinner, we headed back into the living room for more present-opening, done in the same manner beginning with the youngest and moving on up the age-ladder. About an hour later, we were finished, but still had more family to see. This time, however, it was our job to go to them, so into the cars we piled. We spent about 30 minutes driving, 2 1/2 hours visiting, then another 30 minutes driving home, at which point it became painfully clear to all that we needed to figure out what we'd be eating for dinner. And, since I wasn't about to cook again, we decided that a Christmas Day Cheeseburger was in order. So, after writing down everyone's orders, 2 of the men went to a local fast-food eatery to bring dinner home. After stuffing our faces with cheeseburgers and fries, the kids went to bed and the grown-ups played games for about 2 more hours. I think Michael & I made it to bed around 12:30 this time!

Yesterday we had planned to lay around a bit more, which we did, but still had allot to do before having yet 1 more Christmas meal with more family. Let me just cut to the chase and tell you that after attempting a bit of after-Christmas shopping, driving over to Michael's office to fix a network problem, eating lunch at a nearby 50's style diner, and visiting with some out-of-town friends that wanted to drop by the house for a quick visit, we finally got to Michael's sister's house for dinner around 6:30, and ate around 7. From there, we all headed back to our house where we opened the last of our Christmas presents. The kids got to bed around 10 again, while MIchael & I crawled into bed around midnight.

Thankfully, today, we have no more Christmas meals or activities planned with anyone. Although I had planned to stay put today with the kids to work on laundry and finding homes for all of the gifts we all received, I have yet to get anyone bathed or changed out of their jammies. We're all kind of laying around, playing, and contemplating accomplishing anything at all. I'm wondering if I'll have the energy to go run a few errands that must be done - we're in need of toilet paper and bottled water, so I can't really put them off! But, I'm first going to have to muster the energy to go bathe my 3 little monkies and get them dressed. Once I accomplish that task, I'm not sure what the day holds for us. Oh yeah, did I mention it's already 12:01PM?