Christmas 2010

And so another Christmas has come and gone.

The hype. The excitement. The headache. The stress. The glitter. The glow. The eating. The anticipation. The cookies for Santa. The lights for me. The wish of a White Christmas from my lovely children (which did not come to be, sadly for them).

It came and went and now the wind down. I always wish the feeling of Christmas were always 10 days away. 10 days seems short enough for it to be here and long enough to still plan and shop and enjoy the loveliness of the season.

I wasn't always this way. In my past life, I would have preferred to go away for the entire month of December. I do believe my children have helped me enjoy the excitement of Christmas again. And I thank them for that. Even if I was a tad stressed and yelled a couple of times at the end since I got nothing done until the last week except for the tree and the lights.

Since my camera is sacked (read past posts regarding the demise of my camera) I didn't get a lot of pics this year. A few with my phone. I stole a few as well from other posts.

Here is a small sampling of how the day went:

Lovely Lighted Linc, the tree.

One of the best presents EVER: Ivy's tent. I actually fit in it as well (especially after all the cookies I consumed; as Jen said, if it was there, we ate it). Ivy invited me many times to sit in her tent with her. No small feat if you knew Ivy.

Steve opening yet another TERRIFIC present. We were looking for the kids and I saw this wooden alligator push thing for babies and we both said, "Have to buy that for Evan." He loved it and since he's just beginning to walk, perfect.

Robee with his Uncle Traveling Matt ... or is it Traveling Uncle Matt? Whatever. It's a Fraggle and he loves it and the show and this was the next best present.

THIS is always a great present; holding snugly Ivy.

Oh yeah. The cookie thing. I ate about .... wow. Lost count actually. I did manage to save enough to put on Santa's plate. Of course, it depends on what your definition of "enough" is.

This is Leavenworth Washington. It's the Scandinavian hamlet located east of us over the Cascades that is famous for Wiener Schnitzel and Bavarian Deserts. It has a lovely quilt of snow during most of the winter and it's where Thomas and I are going for three days as a gift from the kids. This was top present. Thank you kids.

We've started sort of a tradition with Felix and Robee by going to Leavenworth on New Year's Day. The crowds have slowed and it's fun to go tubing and wander the cobble streets AND it's something to look forward to after the hoopla of Christmas.

The trip for Thomas and I is at the end of January however and it's SANS children. I love them but I love spending alone time with my spouse.

I once was an active x-country skier; Leah and I used to ski quite a bit in Ogden and I always skied when Brooke and I took our winter trips to Island Park.

After I had Felix, I tried to ski again but found that "mom time" was all-encompassing and there was no more "me time" so I sold my skis and gave up on the idea of ever skiing again.

I, of course, didn't realize that children grow up and older and there comes a time where a mom can have some "me time" without being selfish about it.

I'm getting myself some cross country skis from our new Play Again Sports and I'm going to ski once again. We don't get a lot of snow here but when we do, I always think how fun it would be to ski around our five acres or up the street or in the local fields.

This year is the first year the older kids decided to draw names for gift giving. Money is always tight and they all have their own families to buy for as well. I remember when our family started doing this same thing; it just makes sense. Thomas and I didn't get in the drawing this year but it might happen next year to help narrow the gift buying!

We did get some nice gifts for the big kids but it's hard when they can go out and buy what they need during the year. However, Angie really wanted a tree for her yard so we got a gift card to this wonderful nursery in Shoreline. We found out that Jen would like a Kindle so I went to stores and he went to stores but they were out out out. So online to have it sent to her. Ben has a concert in San Fransisco in March so we bought air tickets for them to attend. Emilee has just re-finished her basement and wanted a Costco card for the purchase of a TV.

Goodbye Christmas 2010. It was a fun time and next year, I'm going to be better prepared.