Bah Hum Bug

I have not been in the Christmas spirit ever since the calendar turned December 1! I wasn't sure if it was because Thanksgiving was so late this year and after that holiday that takes major effort was over; since I hosted this year, it was only 3 1/2 weeks until Christmas. Ahhhhhhh!!!!!! It just seemed like a whole lot of effort to put out for such a short amount of time. I've also been sick since Turkey day with a 24 hour bug that hit me at both ends (if you know what I mean :-p) then I think what developed into Bronchitis with a nasty, phlem-ey, mucus-ey cold and a major sinus/head cold that zapped my energy and left me napping when my kids napped and making them endure probably what was way too much screen time so Mommy could rest. Being sick and having to take care of kids is just the worst! It also could have been the sour mood I get when thinking about being forced to spend all that extra money... especially when we just got ourselves on a budget and last month we spent $1000 less than we normally do which means we didn't have to take any money out of savings to pay bills and such. THAT FEELS REALLY GOOD! And now I can't keep that trend going because it's Christmas dammit... and I have to spend money on people just because of that. I never feel like I'm searching for the perfect gift for people because there's no time and I'm NOT going to the Mall with 2 children in tow, so it feels like I'm just buying shit for people because it's Christmas and not because it feels really good to give. Such a sourpuss I know!

I mean... I am excited for my kids and it was fun buying them stuff. They are both still so young though that I feel like we could have skipped Christmas all together and they wouldn't even know the difference. The irony is, even though I say that, I couldn't help but feel extremely guilty about my bah hum bug state of mind. I kept saying stuff like, "I'm such a bad Mom for not doing all the Christmas stuff for my kids... they won't really remember... right?"

We didn't end up doing a tree this year because I'm a grinch basically. LOL. Every time I thought of getting a tree and hauling out all the ornaments and trying to decorate it with two toddlers it sounded like a nightmare and not as much fun as I'd love it to be. The days of sipping my Hot Buttered Rum by the fire, while my Husband and I leisurely decorated our magnificent tree are gone. If we do that it better be at naptime or after bedtime and then what happens when the little devils wake? Not only did decorating the tree with 2 toddlers around sound exhausting, but keeping it intact for 3 1/2 weeks sounded even more of a nightmare! I imagined myself saying any and all of these way too much: "No, don't touch that!" "Don't put that in your mouth!" "Don't feed that ornament to the dog!" "Don't hang from the tree, get off there, no climbing!" "Get down!" "NO, NO, NO, NO!" I'm exhausted just writing about it... Phew! And I refused to have a tree that was only decorated on the top three quarters, that's just silly!

Here's our not so festive tree, but we have one dammit! If you notice it's fake (which is not something we normally do), it's only 3 feet tall with no ornaments or star on top and it's sitting on top of our wine cabinet. This way the children in no way can mess with it. They just say "ights on pwease?" At least it's indoor/outdoor so we can use it outside for decoration some other year.

I figured out one of the reasons why I didn't want to do any of the holiday mumbo jumbo is because none of it was going to go how I envisioned it in my head. Can you say... Control freak! Maybe... probably! At least I can admit it... first step to change and I didn't have to pay a therapist for that revelation!

It sounds so horrible when I put it on paper and say it out loud, but it's true. I just knew everything was going to be a lot harder and not quite as merry with two toddlers in the mix. I knew I'd probably have a lot of laughs, but I envisioned more yelling and screaming, profuse drinking and sayings of NO then I did the good stuff. Maybe I've deprived myself of some awesome holiday memories with my 2 1/2 and 1 1/2 year old, but I will take that chance and know that there are many more years to come to make Christmas memories with the little rascals... so... NO REGRETS! Someone once told me they read... "If it is going to make you yell more than smile and laugh then don't do it!" Good advice and my motto for the season!

So, we are now 5 days from Christmas and I've made peace with my decision to not throw myself into holiday mode this year or a ditch for that matter. We did do some stuff. My husband got out the ladder and put lights on the house, it's no Christmas Light Fight, but we aren't the darkest house on the block either.

I did let the kids decorate cookies even though it gave me major anxiety, but I managed to laugh at it for the most part and it was only one cookie each. They had fun, I didn't need medication or alcohol to get through it and my husband bathed them while I cleaned up the kitchen, so it was a group effort and fairly manageable. I will have to say though, my friends call me "Martha" because I like to bake and do most cooking/baking from scratch and I'm fairly crafty and such in general. I cringed at the idea of all the work that went into making sugar cookie cut outs from scratch with my toddlers. I didn't have the energy, the sanity or the patience to embark on that ordeal. So I did something I never thought I would do... Dun da da dah!!

That's right... store bought sugar cookies and frosting! It didn't even dawn on me until my husband made a comment that you can buy those rolls of Pillsbury dough in already cut shapes. Ah schucks! That's a good idea! I thought the bakery had un-frosted sugar cookies, but not Safeway; so I just bought the plain old round sugar cookies. They were tasty regardless of who baked them.

Here's my kids having a good time "decorating" them. I use that term loosely! Andrew (left) pretty much just ate the sprinkles and Zach (right) managed to frost the garbage after he felt his cookie was frosted enough.

I did do a very "teacher" like thing and make a paper tree for my kids to decorate. I used poster board and cut out a tree and a star and attached it to the wall. I added velcro coins to the tree and the back of several different ornament like foam stickers so the kids can take them off and redecorate the tree as many times as they desire. I added the trunk using a paper bag and then let the kids add foam sticker presents to the bottom that are permanently stuck. They've had fun with it... mostly they take them all off and throw them on the ground, but I call that success!

We've gone around the neighborhood and looked at Christmas lights as well as a visit to a local church, Evergreen Community Church; that puts on a pretty good light display and they have trains and free cocoa, cider and cookies.

I'm going to drag my reluctant husband to Snowflake Lane and I think we may try and do the Warm Beach Lights and Holiday festivities after Christmas when it's not so crowded. Other than that I'm calling it good for this year. We tried to do a modest Christmas for the kids setting a budget limit and not overwhelming them with stuff.

Being we aren't super religious people I want to ensure the meaning of Christmas isn't translated to my boys only as presents, presents and more presents. I'd like the focus to be on family, tradition and being thankful for each other and what we have and giving to those that don't have as much. In future years I see our traditions being things like baking for the season, cutting down and decorating our tree (when they are older and can help and not just make more of a mess), an annual lights drive, partaking in some of the holiday festivities around town that don't break the bank or test our patience too much with the annoyance of crowds, watching wonderful Christmas shows and movies at home and just relishing in being together as a family.

Next year I'd like to do a homemade advent calendar; I saw some great ideas on Pinterest and I think just having fun stuff each day that we do like a simple holiday craft or taking food to the food bank or watching a Christmas show that evening or having hot cocoa etc. as well as some treats and some little presents and maybe some bigger stuff that we do will be really fun for the whole family. If I can keep it up every year I think that and a lot of the things we do will become our traditions.

I also want my kids to know the importance of giving to the community and helping out families in need so I want to focus on having a family we buy gifts for each year, participating in food donation and maybe even volunteering at a soup kitchen or food bank.

I may have been pretty Ba Hum Bug this year, but I think it made me think about why I was feeling that way and how I wanted me and my family to participate in the holiday every year. It made me focus on what I wanted Christmas to mean for our family and what is and isn't important to me. It also made me take it easy on myself and not feel so guilty ( I don't think we deserve mommy guilt and we are too quick to succumb to it, so I try to avoid it as much as possible!) about my decisions on what we would and would not do this year for the holiday. Instead of focusing on the "I'm Not's" I try and focus on the "I Am's," and my kids love me all the same whether we decorate a tree or not. I should appreciate this time while they are too young to know otherwise because there's going to be many years where I won't have that luxury!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!