This year’s Christmas was wonderful. Surprisingly, I think I enjoyed it much more than last year’s, despite being nearly 8 months pregnant and doing 80% handmade gifts and having both families over to our house for Christmas Eve chili dinner and the weather being erratic and all-around nasty. Whew! That was a mouthful! Yes, regardless of all that stuff, this year’s Christmas seemed more simple than the last. Everyone cut back on the uber-commercialized gift-giving and increased the warm wishes and holiday cheer and family time.
I pushed myself a little too hard in the days leading up to and through Christmas Eve (cleaning the house, finishing gifts, wrapping and general fussing about), and ended up completely exhausted and a little ill come Christmas morning, but Gunner was an absolute angel which made up 110% for all the stress. He slept in until around 9:00 and he waited patiently while his parents shuffled about in the morning routine before opening any presents. What a trooper! And he was very grateful and was a total sweetheart all day long, with lots of thanks and hugs and “Gee, it sure is nice…” etc. He even gave me multiple special thanks and lovey hugs for making Christmas breakfast of french toast and bacon.
Although the volume of toys went down by at least half from last year, he was super happy with what he got, especially his LEGO Star Wars figures and Dual Action Light Saber (which he asked Santa for). In order to save some money and fill some space under the tree, I made a trip up to my parents’ attic and nabbed a few things from my little brother’s extensive former toy collection. I cleaned up a Fisher Price castle playset, complete with knight action figures, and a Marbleworks set and another marble spiral playset. Let me just say that I’m very lucky that my mother keeps things together as well as she does when she puts them into storage. So far Gunner has been just as excited for these “second-hand” toys and has enjoyed them just as much as the brand-spanking new ones. Total score for thrifty momness!
As for gifts given out, I made most of the gifts this year, which felt really good like I was passing out little bits of myself to everyone. Hooded scarves for my mom, mother-in-law and sister-in-law and other sister-in-law up north, “man scarves” for my dad, father-in-law, nephew, Brian, and Gunner even got one which he was super-psyched about because he had seen me working on everyone else’s and seemed to really-really want mom to make a scarf for him, too. My brother got a special scarf inspired by the T-Shirt Memory Scarf posted on CRAFTzine, which turned out really neat! My wonderful husband got me a brand new non-stick saute pan to replace my crappy old one, and the Outer Limits complete series DVD box set and an awesome Mozart CD set. It’s so great to know that he actually knows what I like and pays attention to things that I say! LOL
We also received some great books and DVDs, a new tupperware set (so happy!), and my mother-in-law crocheted a huge soft pink baby blanket and pillow for her impending granddaughter. But probably my favoritest of everything, which almost made me cry, were two quilts from my sister-in-law. One especially for Gunner and another for new baby Nola. They are incredibly special because the quilting was done by my husband’s very beloved grandmother who passed away two years ago, which was found whilst cleaning out her house. Shawn (sil) cut the large section of quilted pieces in half and finished them both with batting and soft fleece backing. They’re so beautiful and full of character and love!! They have that wonderful vintage/grandmotherly smell, I almost don’t want to wash them ever! I’m going to get pictures up as soon as I can, but I there’s hardly even words to describe how grateful I am to have these wonderful heirlooms for my children.
I suppose it was the simplicity of this year’s Christmas that made it very much the best so far. Everyone was all-too aware of problems going on out in the world, but we all came together for food and games and to share time together. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and look forward to a happy and healthy new year!