Traditions

One week from Christmas Day! 

Which means we've been doing the Christmas things for about three and a half weeks now, and again this year I feel like the traditions are a bit fluid. I mean, we always wait until after Thanksgiving to put up the tree, but this year on the Sunday after turkey day I let the kids handle the bulk of hanging the ornaments and ribbon. Mainly because I couldn't keep up with them. They swarm. And grab. And I can hardly say, "gentlllllllle!" before they're back for another one. And also because they were so obsessed with doing it all. 

Henry exclaimed, "You're a lot nicer this year letting us decorate the tree!"

lololollllllllllll

He was full of cheer while we were decorating and had lots of good Henry-isms in regards to what a good mom I was like asking, "did you and Daddy get married because you knew how good each other would be at being our parents?". I mean whaaaa? 

Kind of, but so profound. 

And also, piiiiile it on, Ham.

I decided to let the good times roll this holiday season because check out his outfit in our annual Santa photo this year. Too-small boots he refuses to give up and shoves his feet in, sweat pants, red thermal long sleeve tee and red cardigan sweater. 

It's tucked in. 

Also he likes to part his hair in the middle.

Andrew and I were dying when we saw this outfit, and here I go again laughing out loud because it's so ridiculous next to those sweet girls in their best Christmas plaid, but that's kind of what makes it awesome.

We have yet to make any Christmas cookies yet, and our stockings have been hung with care for approximately two weeks until Andrew took them down again to cut more limestone rock in our den. Because living through renovations.

We have lights on half of the front of our house because SURPRISE! our new house has more roof line than the old, and we cannot seem to find the same C9 big bulb white lights to save our life so we have yet to turn on our half-lit house. 

A tradition we have followed this year - I LOST MY RINGS AGAIN. 

They have since been found, but it was reminiscent of last year when I turned the house upside down for days, this year I had clients scouring their land for my band, and having a perma-sick feeling in my stomach until the missing band turned up at the bottom of one of the ornament tubs under a pile of discarded tissue paper. I hadn't even noticed it fell off while we raced to decorate the tree with as many ornament clusters as possible multiple days earlier.

All this to say, every year I have these ideas of how our Christmas prep is going to go, and every year I'm like, huh. It's a lot of normal, every day life with a bit of extra thrown in here and there. Is that so bad? The kids are off in a couple of days for Christmas break, and I'm sure we'll throw in some extra baking and Christmas movies then. And I'll try really hard for Henry to ditch the sweats in exchange for some plaid of his own for Christmas Eve mass. But friends and I were talking a couple of weeks ago about how we remember our own mothers making our own childhoods so good and magical and special. So many crafts, so many goodies, so many thoughtful gestures that we remember to this day. 

And perhaps they did. Or maybe childhood is magical on its own because you remember the good over the bad.

I think that needs to be my new holiday tradition. Laughing about the things that drive me crazy and celebrating the good, through the normal every day life.

Merry Christmas early, friends!