Merry Christmas!

Well, for us, Christmas is done and today is just another Monday.  I'm very grateful to have been able to spend this time with family.  Not everyone is so lucky.  Our kids and grandkids were all here over the weekend.  I'm probably worse than the kids in terms of anticipation. There is this big build up of plans and anticipation, and then those plans kind of blow up and go awry. And then, much quicker than you want, it's over and everyone has gone home.

I think (hope) overall the kids (ages 3-7) had a good time together.  I had a craft planned for Saturday morning which was OK with the girls.  The boys were less enthusiastic but they humored me.  We had planned to take the kids to the Mary Poppins movie, but no one wanted to see it.  That really surprised me.   

Lesson learned for me. The kids really just wanted to play together, so that is what they did. 

Everyone did humor me again and allow some photos on Saturday afternoon right before we ate.  It just seems like I don't remember to take pictures until it's too late, so for once we managed it.

One year I got all of the kids matching PJs and we did pictures in those.  Those PJs all seemed to run small, so they didn't get to wear them much afterwards. One year we got them all matching Jackrabbit shirts for pictures. That was a year we had trouble even corralling the kids together long enough to get a photo.  This year I just insisted that everyone actually get dressed as not all adults or kids had even gotten dressed yet at lunch time. 

Thankfully both of my sons-in-law are good in the kitchen. One made the gravy and one cut up the meat, while I got everything else laid out.  One daughter made the mashed potatoes. I'm a less than average cook, and decided to keep it simple. And I made things that I like to eat.  We had a ham and roast beef.   The ham was good, but the roast beef was just barely OK.  A little on the tough side.  I made a broccoli rice casserole that I love but no one else likes.  I'll be eating leftovers of that casserole for days. The asparagus I bought was very bitter.  

About the time I had planned for going to the movie we decided it was a good time to open presents.  The 4 biggest kids can all read a little, so they checked tags on packages and sorted everything out to the right people.  But once the opening begins, you know how it goes. Three minutes later we are swimming in a sea of wrapping paper and bows and giggles. 

I do enjoy watching the kids opening gifts. From us they get something to wear, something to read, and something to play with.  I made the big pillows for the kids, and those were mostly a hit with them.  Ironically the gift that every kid wanted to play with the rest of the weekend was Jack's gift.  I got him a set of walkie-talkies, and they all spent hours playing with them.  Who would have guessed?

The 2 biggest grankids love Legos, as do both of their mothers. 

Some of the play time was with their new toys, and some was just playing hide and seek around the house or chasing each other up and down the stairs - which kept me very nervous. Very normal kid activities. 

Not everything was successful.  Besides the movie idea being shot down, we had one golden retriever lost in the neighborhood for about a half hour, a big dinner that was kind of lack luster (I'm not the best cook), and adult children who don't always play nicely with each other.  Even so it's always a let down when everyone has gone home and it's just us in the house again.  

I had leftover pie for supper last night and went to bed early.  My husband stayed up reading the book I gave him.  Merry Christmas to everyone! May all your holiday wishes come true!