The only Christmas decór that I put out was my Christmas wreath on my front door. Now, before you get all humbug or grinchy hear me out.
We did start a Christmas tradition with my eldest son Corban. We would purchase a new fir tree from a local tree plantation. There was a number of factors that led to our decision, but ultimately it was to prevent undue stress with our children making a mess of the decór.
Last year, it was almost a daily occurrence to every few hours our children were ganging up against the decorated Christmas tree and removing decorations. At one point there were light bulbs missing from the string components. Each of them were constantly messing with the electrical outlet. Baby gates would not stop the mayhem.
And no I’m not going to buy plastic to prevent glass breaking. Some of the baked crafts were also ruined because it somehow screamed, “Eat me!“
So to negate that stress, we didn’t do any interior decorations. Weather wasn’t that great to have the time needed to do exterior illuminations either. So we focused on other traditions.
Christmas Lobster Soirée
On our first family Christmas gathering we visited my in-laws for our annual Steak & Lobster Dinner. It is one of our favorite things we do and enjoy the delicious feast! The immediate family with their spouses and young adults enjoy listening to Christmas jams to adult conversations over some festive cocktails.
My children got to decorate a Rice Krispy Treat Train. It was a bit messy. But they loved it and sucked the frosting directly from the tubes. My husband enjoyed it because he got crafty with them.
For entertainment the old men watched an action movie. The title shall remain nameless. (It wasn’t Die Hard.) While the spunky fun bunch of adults played a competitive game of Cranium. My son Corban played on Grandma and cousin Haley’s team.
The Cranium Game gives players a chance to show off their talents! Players team up to cruise around a game board by completing activities in 4 color-coded categories: Creative Cat, Data Head, Star Performer, and Word Worm. One team picks a card from the category that matches their space on the board, and must successfully complete the activity before time runs out. Spelling a word backwards, drawing with their eyes closed, and solving a puzzle are just a few of the activities.
Card Drawn: The Office
My son enjoyed being the puppet. We made him feel special when it came time to draw because we all had to try to guess what he drew along with the official drawing. Normally, my husband and I dominate when it comes to game night. I know it sounds pretty bold to say – but it’s true! However, this evening we played on different teams. Which I do not feel a second of remorse. I had a great time playing! What I found quite humorous is when someone drew the card for drawing, “The Office” as an all participation. My drawing wasn’t enough of a clue. I lost to a drawing of a paper clip drawn by my sister-in-law Melina.
Family Christmas Time
Waking up to kid snot and coughs is a great start to any holiday event! We all enjoyed an early hearty breakfast from our fabulous hostess, my MIL. Followed by the gift exchange. It included the usual cry fests. Most notably from our tribe of munchkins.
My daughters favored the sparkly unicorn backpacks. Mainly, because they were able to put things in it from trinkets to books. My son was floored when he received Ryan’s World Treasure Chest. It is a gold plastic chest filled with mystery. Unlocking it with a golden key to finding more keys inside to unlock more treasure. Like golden coins, pirate gear and a pirate ship. There were a couple of things that I am not letting him open without adult supervision. It involves a goop of unknown substance that I don’t want to have to figure out how to get out of the carpet or furnishings.
Besides a variety of fabulous clothes and socks they received a tea set, Frozen jewelry, a beauty salon play set, puzzles, painting crafts, Play-doh, Dr. Seus books and no mess marker coloring books.
For their 3rd birthday, my daughters received from my husband a pair of Minnie shopping carts with products inside. It was destroyed within 3 days. They used it to climb onto things or put themselves in the basket to be pushed around in it.
A family member got us the same one, but only gifted one. There was a bit of a cat fight and high pitch shrieks. Other than that to keep the shopping cart from having the same fate. I am intentionally keeping the plastic intact over the basket area where you see all of the groceries. Hopefully, this will avoid any future incidents or accidents. This is an item that I would probably recommend for a toddler that has a thing for grocery shopping or some sort of retail set up in their playroom. The product boxes inside are super thin and can easily be crushed from rough play. The plastic cans seemed to last a while.
*EDIT. And a week later Nic Nic broke the handle completely off.
Gifts For The Keto Adults In Your Life
We received from my in-laws a new Emeril set of hard anodized nonstick pans and pots. Which has been absolutely a wonder why I didn’t invest in excellent cookware when I flew the coop. The cooking collection doesn’t disappoint. The food just slips and slides.
In addition to that we also received new diningware. The dining set includes a large plate, medium plate and a matching square bowl. If you are following me on my Instagram you can see I’m already using it to show off my beginner Keto platted dishes. It all fits well in the cabinet and the dishwasher.
One of the things that my MIL asked of us is photos of our family. It’s a pain in the butt to have photos taken. One or more are not behaving and looking at the camera on cue. It’s like we are inconveniencing them to take a dang photo. So I have been for some time in reviewing photos taken to print for the fun frames that they received.
In one of those special family moments, my father-in-law expressed his love and adoration to his wife for taking care of him. He recently had knee surgery which he has been doing extremely well in physical therapy. It was a tearful loving message that was lovely and appreciated.
For the Parent That Has It All
Not that it is a sibling competition, but I have to admit this was a winning gift. My brother-in-law Rob had his smirk and head digitized as a 3D rendering for a wine stopper from Shrink 3D. I totally love this idea! My MIL was thrilled to receive it. So now when her flock of friends come to visit they may see her son staring back adorned on a favorite wine.
After a long drive home we went straight to sleep. The next day was filled with stocking the closets and playing with the new things that my children received.
Time For A Makeover
I took an appointment with my daughters for a spa day with their Melissa & Doug Wooden Beauty Salon Play Set With Vanity and Accessories. My kids often watch me get ready, blow dry my hair and/or put on makeup. This by far was fun to watch them enjoy giving me a makeover and dolling me up with their Frozen tiara and jewelry. My son told me, “Mommy, you look beautiful!”
Christmas Eve was mostly cleaning and enjoying the day of playing Connect Four. My son won maybe 3 games out of 25. I don’t know where he got this idea that I can’t block him from winning. I believe eventually he will get better at losing with grace as well as improve his game strategy skills.
After tea time, we had some time for another spa experience and my daughters got one too. Yes, I wore the tiara! They wore their Christmas outfits with their new snowflake Frozen jewelry and sported their new backpacks. Just like Bonnie from Toy Story 3. Apparently, they included in their bags some figurines and a basketball. Corban spent most of the day in his underwear and did finally decide to wear his Christmas outfit.
Next Christmas
We drove west into the sun which is miserable and of course there is the Dallas traffic.
Finally getting to our destination and kids ready to eat. It was my mistake for not having some snacks for the kids to nibble on when we arrived.
Fortunately, our host offered some fruit for all the kids to eat. As we waited another hour for the damn gravy to be stirred.
Do you ever find coordinating a holiday event with extended family ridiculous? If dinner is at 6pm doesn’t it mean people actually consuming food at 6pm? Apparently, it is not a universal etiquette. I just have gotten to the point where I just don’t stress about it anymore. I am punctual when it comes to certain things. But when it comes to holiday gatherings…I will judge our arrival by past experience to avoid future stress. My main annoyance about it is we missed a Candlelight Service at church. I hope that we will make it to next year’s Christmas Candle Light service before any extended family gatherings.
It was a smooth drive back home. We had enough energy to have the remaining gifts to put out for Christmas morning. Jason put a pair of indoor Little Tike Trampolines together. It has a handle bar and we have them set out near the fire place. There was also an adorable Little Woodzeez Honeysuckle Hillside Cottage with a Squirrel Family. We also got my son his first bike with training wheels. Eek!!!
Christmas Morning!
Recently we watched Santa Clause so having the gifts staged right in front of the fire place was perfect to make them believe that we had a visitor from the North Pole.
My kids are really very active and if they could climb on the walls they would. Christmas morning was fantastic! Each woke up racing to our room that Santa came!!!
So we went along with them in their excitement! After a waffle spread for breakfast, Corban got to ride his bike with help from daddy. He hasn’t gotten used to peddling yet. Afterwards, we mainly goofed around with our kids. Got rid of the mix matched dishes. Originally I intended to put them out to recycle. However, I did not tape the bottom of the box and it all came crashing through the box. And I spent about an hour picking up the debris. I feel like 2019 I have spent a lot of my time on my knees in the kitchen cleaning the floor. I definitely want a baseboard that has a suction device where I can sweep floor debris into. Where it collects in a shoot that can easily be thrown into the trash like the laundry dryer trap.
For lunch, my husband made a juicy New York Strip Steak that he seasoned with salt and pepper. For a side my kids got stove top steak fries. He also made Creamed Spinach for our side. I had a glass of Santo Moscato to add to this fine dish.
Christmas evening, we pulled out the Gingerbread Kit. First time doing this. Many of our friends have produced the Gingerbread houses and are very creative! We watched the video and read the instructions. Yet, it did not look like the photo or the instructional video. Afterwards, I ate the tree and a side wall of the caboose. The cookie was delicious with coffee. It was my first time to eat a Gingerbread cookie. My kids were very handsy and were cookie cannibals. A complete frosting mess. It was definitely a train wreck.
Overall, we had a merry Christmas and it was definitely a memorable one. From our family to yours. Merry Christmas!
