Christmas – A Lot Of Did And Didn’ts

So, Christmas is over, the relatives are headed up the mountain again and I’m reminissing!

• We did have a pretty nice and relaxed Christmas!
• The kids did think that Christmas was magical and wonderful!
• We did have the odd little melt-down!
• I didn’t get to the hair dresser before Christmas and I look pretty shaggy! Short hair cuts are so much less forgiving!
• We did eat lots of good food.
• I did spend days making all that good food.
• We did laugh a lot.
• We did talk a lot!
• I did manage to do a lot of very important and precious reconnecting with people I care about near and far over the weekend!
• At times the living room did look like something exploded in it! The kid’s rooms still look like that!
• The special gift for my SIL I ordered from Germany at the beginning of November didn’t get here in time.
• My husband did have Monday off!
• DH and I did go for Lunch to our favorite sushi place yesterday while the kiddos were with the Grans! Date lunch! Yay!
• I did succeed a little better in not sweating the small stuff this year!
• I did spend most of Christmas in my most comfortable leggings and I didn’t care a bit! In fact I’m still in leggings now!
• The oven rack did collapse just before I got ready to serve Christmas dinner. But it didn’t ruin the mashed potatoes OR the roasted squash!
• I did get a fright a couple of times when Anna put the grape lip gloss she got from Max on half of her face and it made her look just enough like she was turning blue. If you are familiar with the health problems of her first year, you’ll know this is not as far fetched as it may seem!
• I didn’t get any “the kids pose in front of the Christmas tree in their Christmas best” photos done this year.
• Max didn’t change out of his Christmas pjs for more than 24 hours, and that was just to change into new PJs.
• Anna did change after 24hours - many, many, many times in fact - with her cousin and practically her entire wardrobe was on the floor. 5-year-old fashion shows take some sacrifice!
• I didn’t get all the decorating or baking done I wanted.
• The gluten-free Boule didn’t rise nearly as well as I had hoped for the Christmas Eve dinner, but was utterly delicious anyway and gobbled up by all in no time at all!
• I didn’t take enough pictures or a single video – I was too busy being in the moment with the  kids! I will probably have moments in which I will regret that again!
• I didn’t make the bed once, even with family here.
• I  didn’t take one piece of Christmas decorartion down yet. And I won’t until the kiddos are back in school!
• I didn’t break out in hives when the tile floor got pretty groddy and I never actually mopped it for 36 hrs. Still haven’t done all of it!
• The kids did love their gifts and have been playing beautifully together and apart for days now!
• I didn’t read a single blog in 5 days and shudder to think how much catching up I have to do now :)

Every year, I have all of these visions of what our Christmas  will be like in my head – usually it involves pristine decorations, magazine like food and table settings. Beautifully polished children, delighting in every moment …. I am effortlessly put together, looking good and glowing, being the perfect hostess and many pounds lighter!

Well, ok, not quite all that but you get the idea. Every year I also think that I will take lots of photos of every precious moment of the children’s absolute delight in everything that is going on!

And it never happens that way. Every year, life and reality get in the way … I don’t get everything done I wanted to, the house is not nearly as clean as I would hope, somebody/something always comes late … or too early, I am usually flushed from cooking all day (or days as it was the case this year,) with clothes that reflect the same etc. The kids whine to open the presents, or throw tantrums when they get way overtired, something  in the kitchen always goes a little wrong and some relative always exasperates another.

And I never have photos beyond the stocking opening! I am usually way too busy making it all happen or actually making the memory rather than making the video – and you know what, that’s ok too! I’d rather my children remember me opening gifts with them or decorating cookies with them, or making great food than my face stuck behind a camera!

Our Christmas was great! Life might have gotten in the way, but it was US and it was real and it was wonderful! There was a whole lot that didn’t happen, but all that DID happen was memorable and I am OK with it all! And very grateful! And happy!

So, how imperfectly perfect was your Christmas weekend?