Home for the Holidays

Years ago, on this very blog, I bemoaned the fact that we never got to have a "real" Christmas morning at home.  Our first year in this house, when Jacob was two and starting to grasp Christmas, I officially figured out how we were going to do our own Christmas at home.  Ten years later, what I had hoped for has actually become our norm, which was actually sort of fun to read and realize.  But a few years after that first post, I had a moment of weakness where I questioned how we were doing things.  I think it coincided with a few years where we did our gift opening in the early evening on the 23rd when the kids came home from school/daycare, just so we could get on the road that night or first thing on the 24th, which left us more time with family and a little less rushing on Christmas Eve itself.  Those afternoon gift opening sessions, while fun and purposeful, lacked the routine and tradition that I was craving.  Instead, Santa was coming unceremoniously in the middle of the day (which probably wouldn't have been believable for long anyway), and we were rushing through gifts, assembling toys while I made dinner, then packing up and rushing off right at bedtime, which likely started a couple rough nights of sleep off even rougher.  It just wasn't working, and I think that's what prompted that wish that we could just have a chill Christmas at home.  I wanted our own traditions in our own space, and that hadn't happened yet.

Eventually we settled into our current routine, which I appreciate so much now that I used it as my "share" during our work Christmas party (via Zoom) where we all shared a favorite memory or tradition.  I shared my initial frustrations and how, against all odds, we've made our own unlikely traditions at home.  We now use Christmas Eve Eve as our Christmas Eve, right down to church in the evening and cookies for Santa before bed, then get up on Christmas Eve morning and treat it as our Christmas morning.  We take a picture at the top of the stairs, we open presents, we eat cinnamon rolls, and eventually get ourselves dressed, packed, and ready for Buffalo by somewhere around lunch.  And then we get to Buffalo in time to start family gathering #1.  And for many years now, it's gone well.  Sometimes I do wish the kids had more time to enjoy their presents at home before we leave them for a couple days, but that's what the week after Christmas is for, right?  In case I had any doubts, Jacob is all about our setup, and I love that we have built a tradition that seems to mean as much to him as my childhood Christmas routine meant to me.  And three days of presents isn't half bad either!

In that blog post seven years ago, I did end up concluding that family time was more important than anything else, including having any sort of slower paced time to savor the holiday in our own home.  Our current older generation of family will only be around for so long, and the dynamic could change after that, so we really do appreciate the time we have left with our current setup.  In the years since that blog post, we've had a couple close calls with illness, where we thought colds or fevers or stomach bugs were certain to prevent us from traveling and leave us trapped at home.  Luckily that never did end up happening and we always recovered enough to go.  And then we hit this year.  

The good news, of course, is that our extended family gatherings were already canceled, so we were just missing time with our immediate families, which we should eventually still be able to do in some form.  It might feel a little different, but that family time is always more important than what day it happens on, which is what I learned six years ago when we opened gifts with my parents at our house sometime before New Year's when they came back from Portland.  It was still a lot of fun and it didn't matter it was so far past Christmas.  If anything, it was cool to extend the festivities.  So on that front, I wasn't really worried about our change in schedule aside from just not knowing when we'd finally cram in those gatherings, since we have no idea what our next round of tests will show and I have the baptism out of town in a couple weeks.  We weren't missing as much as usual, and assuming we stayed healthy, we could make the most of this one time (hopefully) at home.

I could not wait to be done with work after the 23rd because I just needed that one day on Christmas Eve to finish things up and chill a bit.  I was filling my evenings prior with things like cookie baking and wrapping, and I just felt like I hadn't really settled into the Christmas spirit.

I used my mom's recipe this year, but with gluten-free baking flour, and they were so much better than the other recipes I've tried in past years with existing GF baking mixes.  I was so nervous about gluten-free flours for years, but Bob's Red Mill is legit.  Not only were these endlessly easier to roll out, but they behaved themselves so much better in the oven.

In my post-work relaxation, I also got fancier with decorating--instead of frosting them all and sprinkling with colored sugar, I used almost every type of sprinkle in my pantry and piped on some frosting.  Maybe I can do royal icing next year!

On Christmas Eve, it felt so good to not have to set an alarm or stay on any sort of schedule.  I have never been so ready for my kids' Christmas break as when we have to do part time teacher duty!  A break was much needed all around.  And ironically, despite being home so much more for home school, we still struggled with keeping up on the advent calendars.  Still, my homemade one (despite not spacing the numbers quite right) turned out pretty good!

  

It's always sort of amazing to me how slow the first few days of the calendars seem, then how quickly everything gets filled up/opened up.  Yet there's always a mixed sense of disbelief/relief when we finally get to the 24th.  It's going faster every year--even this one.  

We started Christmas Eve with a Tim Hortons' drive-thru run (though sadly they were out of candy cane donuts) for drinks and donuts.  We watched some movies and relaxed a bit during the day.  The boys got festive with fun shirts.  After online church and a shrimp scampi dinner, we let each boy open one gift since I think they missed our usual Christmas Eve opening!

Carter's shirt is Star Wars themed and says "Merry Sithmas", with all the bad guys caroling.

Jacob is obsessed with nutcrackers, so he got a shirt that says, "What's Crackin'".  The pants from the pajamas he received last year matched it perfectly.

Carter opened up a children's book based on "The Office".  Jacob received a small strip of LED lights for his room.  We'll see how that strip goes before we try to figure out something longer.

I whipped up my cinnamon rolls in the evening so they were ready for the oven in the morning, and once that was over, out came the traditional cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa before bed.

Eventually the boys fell asleep and I was finally able to start getting ready for our first real Christmas morning!  

This year's mantle, so I don't repeat it next year!

Santa came!

One of my favorite things to do is just sit in the dark with all the lights on before going to bed.  

I enjoyed the view of both trees...

...and then played around with the light colors since Jacob was in bed and couldn't insist on white lights, which he now considers "traditional" for Christmas, since that's the color that has presided over every Christmas we've had.

This tree really did turn into a mood tree...each day felt like something different, though oddly I never felt like teal, purple, or patriotic...but even the odd icy blue got a turn or too.  Maybe next year when we don't have red garland I'll be a bit more adventurous.

As much as I love old school incandescent multicolor, I'm considering doing white on the dining room tree next year so Jacob insists on less white on the main tree!

We were hopeful for some snow overnight since there seemed to be a system coming through, but unfortunately, while Buffalo got a pretty good dump of 3-6 inches, we got zilch.  We did end up with a few inches 24 hours too late, but it was funny seeing Buffalo friends and family post pictures while we sat here with nothing.  They actually got pounded even worse on the 26th, so maybe it was extra good we weren't there!

We got to sleep in a decent bit on Christmas morning, but once the kids were up, obviously they were eager to get to the gifts!

The annual picture!

Up first were stockings, with the usual assortment of fun Five Below candy and some other favorites.  

I happened to notice on my first Five Below stop that fruity Mentos, which Jacob used to love but that had wheat flour in them, now are gluten free!  So I bought him a couple rolls (which obviously confused him upon opening), and then saw a different fruit flavored roll on my next Five Below visit, so he got one of those, too!  He also got a box of candy cane sticks perfect for hot cocoa, which he was really excited about.  Carter got some Spongebob gummy Krabby Patties and a giant Payday candy bar, which he found out he liked when he got one in his Halloween bag.  They always get gold coins and the six pack of soda pop candy (another Five Below staple, which is so good I got one for myself this year!), among other fun.

Then it was on to the gifts!  Carter finally got Pop the Pig, which he's been asking for for at least a couple years.  It's actually sort of nice because a single game only lasts about five minutes, so it's an easy one to say yes to playing!

Jacob has been stealing my sherpa blanket since I got it for Christmas last year, so now he has one of his own, and it has a basketball on it.

As I mentioned before, Jacob is really into nutcrackers.  He got a basketball one last year and was begging for another.  I kept saying no, but once it was getting clearer we might have a very limited Christmas, I began to consider getting him a new one.  I didn't want it to be just any one, though, as I don't exactly want to fill my house with nutcrackers.  I saw this football one when I was out last weekend but didn't get it.  Then I thought better of it and decided to get one, but the different location I visited only had a couple somewhat flawed ones.  When I did my post-diagnosis, low-contact outing on Monday, there was yet another location of the store across the parking lot from my curbside pickup.  I knew I could get in and out in less than five minutes, and knowing Jacob would need as much Christmas cheer as possible under the circumstances, I ran in and luckily they had one!  His face when he opened it was pretty classic, particularly since I'd so emphatically said no all season.  So now basketball guy (visible in the background) has a buddy. 

Jacob also got a Patrick Ewing jersey, a framed, autographed photo from one of his other favorite players, a copy of NBA 2K17 (don't ask me--thankfully it was cheap), a shirt, a new Nerf basketball, a white Lego plate, and a basketball s'more ornament he picked out on one of our shopping trips...mostly because I couldn't find a Simpsons ornament.

In addition to Pop the Pig, Carter got a bunch of books (three Star Wars, one Spongebob, and one from a sports series we've gotten from the library before (that one was a freebie from a cereal box offer), a Playmobil remote control car, a Hot Wheels garage (NOT the giant one with the dinosaur), an obnoxious voice changer thing, a set of Hexbug Nano bugs with a whole track/obstacle setup, a make-your-own crystal set, and a Minecraft ornament.  I'd say they both did pretty well!

As for Craig and I, we both did pretty well, too.  Craig's first gift was a Scooby-Doo puzzle I got on clearance from Wegmans a few months ago.  He loves Scooby and I figured it would be a fun add-on gift.  We actually put it together yesterday, but alas, somehow ended up a piece short!  We're still on the hunt but no sign of it yet.  My first gift was a DVD of the movie Splash, which was one of my favorites as a kid.  Craig's big gift was something he's wanted for a long time, a Lego-style building set of "The Office".  He was thrilled!  

My big gift was a Nintendo wanna-be video game console, which we're still trying to figure out a bit!  It has hundreds of games on it, but definitely has its quirks.  We're actually still trying to find all of the Super Marios (my games of choice), but supposedly they're there somewhere!

I found it pretty funny that we all ended up with something to play with this Christmas, but unlike most years we had the time to actually start doing it right away!  Well, my playing was a little later since I had some cinnamon rolls to bake and Christmas dinner pie to make!

Carter figuring out his nano bugs

Craig putting together his "Office"

Jacob waiting for his game to load

One of my biggest panics when the positive test came through was that we didn't have what we needed for a reasonable Christmas dinner.  I managed to put together a decent menu within a day and got everything via grocery curbside pickup.  We had a small quarter ham, mashed potatoes (from a box, but oh well), corn, drop biscuits, canned cranberries (Jacob's favorite--and admittedly, I thought their sweetness paired well with the ham), and sparkling grape juice for the kids.  I actually got the juice for New Year's Eve, but Jacob wanted it with dinner and I can just get another bottle for next time.  Ours wasn't  exactly my mom's fabulous meal, but it worked for us and was pretty easy to make.  I also made a three-layer chocolate pudding pie for dessert, although we ate so much it ended up being our dinner--ha!  

I used real serving dishes and everything!

I opened up a bottle of my favorite wine, and at the last minute spied in the crawl space one of my gifts from last year, a Christmas Vacation moose glass!  I had to bring it up for my drink!  It made me smile and definitely felt more festive!

After our mid-afternoon meal, we did a pretty lengthy Zoom with my parents, my brother, and his kids.  It was good to see everyone and enjoy a little family time in the midst of the Christmas chaos (here and at my brother's, anyway).  It wasn't quite like in-person but it wasn't a bad replacement--and definitely better than nothing!

As I had mentioned in my last post, my Monday night outing not only finished off our gift buying, but also helped me get the last thing we needed to make our homebound Christmas a little more merry.  From the beginning of the season, Jacob wanted us to get matching attire of some sort.  Maybe pajamas, maybe shirts, just something.  Of course, finding something for two adults, a big kid, and a little kid is tough.  We weren't really excited about any of the matching pajamas we saw, and even then, finding something with the right sizes for everyone was a challenge.  Eventually Jacob and I went out shopping to check a few things, and hatched a plan for Simpsons shirts.  The Simpsons have been a big part of this year (thanks to a number of months of Disney+), and they are definitely Jacob's favorite show right now.  Well, initially we found a shirt for Carter at Old Navy, then found ones for the rest of us online from Target.  The problem was that the adult small from Target ended up being a bit big for Jacob so he was all bummed out that our plan wasn't going to work.  I checked our Old Navy again last weekend for a kids XL of the same shirt we got Carter, but no luck.  When I got home, I decided to call around to the other stores, and determined that I could get my last gift and the shirt at the Eastview Mall locations of both stores...which was great other than being a half hour away, but I figured I'd just go after work the next day.  But literally the moment I got off the phone from putting the shirt on hold I checked my email and saw Jacob's test result.  Ugh.  But with it already on hold I knew the actual purchase would be quick, and my other purchase was contactless curbside, so I figured with the low risk thanks to masking and a very short duration, it was worth the trip to ensure we could have the matching shirts and make that part of Christmas complete for Jacob.  Carter didn't love his but he eventually did consent to wearing it so we could get a family picture.  We have a mishmash of pajama pants, but the shirt thing did work out pretty well!  And for the record, the kids' shirts say, "I've been good-ish".  Appropriate, if we're being honest!

Oh, and while we're sharing family pictures, here's the pic that ended up being our Christmas card picture.  We took it a couple weeks ago after getting home from church, and by some miracle it actually came out perfectly on the first try!

Two good family pictures in three weeks?  Must be a Christmas miracle!

In addition to chatting with my family and Craig Facetiming with his earlier in the day, we also received a phone call from my uncle, who usually hosts the big family gathering, just as we were dishing up our evening pie.  I think he may have been doing the phone rounds as a way to recapture at least a bit of what we were missing out on.  It was nice to connect and commiserate about how much this year is a bummer and how awesome next year will need to be.  I don't usually take it for granted--particularly since losing uncles less than three weeks after Christmas in back-to-back years--but it will mean more than ever next year!  We finished off the night with a viewing of "A Christmas Story", which despite being one of my favorites and being broadcast for 24 hours straight every single year, usually loses out to our crazy schedule.  So at least this year we got to watch it!  And then it was time for bed.  We didn't drop into bed quite as exhausted as usual but I think it was just an "extreme" continuation of the relaxed theme of the day!

All in all, it was a good day.  Was it the Christmas we were hoping for a year ago?  Not a chance.  But was it a decent placeholder?  Sure.  I have more thoughts on this, but since this post is long enough, I'll keep my in-depth analysis of the holiday for my next post.  But it was indeed, against all odds, a Merry Christmas!