I remember being stressed out all last Christmas because I had to throw three parties in four days and I was so ready to take down the Christmas tree by the time Christmas was over. This year I decided to pace myself. I asked my brother to host Christmas Eve, I am not throwing a party for the Gotlieb Family and I just hosted everyone at my house on Christmas day, no travel, no stress, just a simple Christmas.
Leading up to Christmas was a bit stressful for us. Carl has been traveling and working most of this month that the boys and I have hardly seen him and I barely had a moment to catch my breath so I could plan what I wanted to do on Christmas. Sometimes its not a bad thing, but I just winged it this year.
I decided to just have an open house and emailed my family the schedule. Whenever they wanted to come they were welcomed. I knew my family wouldn't all be there before 1 pm when the boys needed to nap so I wasn't stressed. They'd be there before 4 pm when everyone was going to be up and ready to open presents.
Our day started simply. Erik crawled into our bed at 6:30, but we wanted to give Elliot a chance to sleep until he needed too and for mommy and daddy to wake up slowly. We put "Merry Madagascar" on the tv and told Erik we would go downstairs when Elliot woke up. Luckily Erik was feeling patient that day.
The minute Elliot woke up, the show was not over, and Erik headed for the stairs. We had to beg him to wait for us because we wanted to see his face when he saw what Santa brought. He saw the "cars movie stuff" he had asked for waiting under the tree and of course Erik started playing with Elliot's toys and vice versa.
Our day started simply. Erik crawled into our bed at 6:30, but we wanted to give Elliot a chance to sleep until he needed too and for mommy and daddy to wake up slowly. We put "Merry Madagascar" on the tv and told Erik we would go downstairs when Elliot woke up. Luckily Erik was feeling patient that day.
The minute Elliot woke up, the show was not over, and Erik headed for the stairs. We had to beg him to wait for us because we wanted to see his face when he saw what Santa brought. He saw the "cars movie stuff" he had asked for waiting under the tree and of course Erik started playing with Elliot's toys and vice versa.
Erik is the kind of kid who doesn't want to play with his presents when he gets them. He wants to open everything all at once, look at what he got and then choose what he is going to play with. Over the course of the day everything will be opened and played with, but not as it is unwrapped. Elliot is completely different. As soon as he unwraps a present he wants to play with the toy immediately and won't touch any other presents until he's finished playing with that toy.
By the time we had breakfast at 8:30 Erik had unwrapped all of his presents and Elliot still had half of his under the tree. At the end Erik had to beg Elliot to unwrap his presents and ended up helping him to unwrap a lot. I think part of this might be having communal toys and kids of the same gender. There really are no Erik or Elliot toys in our house, they all just go in the same melting pot so Erik is just as excited to see Elliot's toys knowing this fact.
We tried not to go crazy with the kids this year and gave them only a few things. The biggest hit was a Thomas train set and two trains that Elliot got from Santa. They were even a bigger hit than the "cars movie stuff" Erik had on his Santa list.
The biggest Christmas flops this year, were the "Cars" ramp Santa got for Erik. Its sitting in a pile on the ground untouched. Also the trike since the handle bars are too high and Elliot can't scoot on like I thought he might be able too. Everything else went exact as planned.
I would like to say that we spent the morning relaxing and just hanging out as a family waiting for everyone to arrive. I wish I could say that.
Instead Carl and I found ourselves in a new role of toy arbitrators. All morning long the boys wanted to play with the same toy and fought constantly. Neither boy cared or understood the concept that the toy was given to the other child. It just doesn't work in our house. So we quickly learned the art of toy arbitration because you can't take toys away on Christmas morning.
Then comes the hard part for me. Right at lunch time family came pouring in and I spent most of the rest of my time in the kitchen cooking, washing dishes or putting my kids to sleep. When my family is there I feel a bit overwhelmed and never really break out the camera much. So I only have one picture from that moment. The rest of the story doesn't come from my own hands.
When Grandma and Grandpa arrived they got the boys their "big" present, a power wheel. The directions say 3 and older, but Erik really needs a few driving lessons for this thing. It was pure chaos as everyone yelled directions and tried to teach him new things about this car. I got it that everyone was excited, but the poor kid was a bit overwhelmed with information. He just wanted to drive his new car and wear his new police man uniform. So we played for a bit and all went inside for companionship. Driving lessons to resume the next day.
My next favorite part of the day involved me so I wasn't able to capture it on camera, but my sister-in-law captured the moment a bit. We all gathered after naptime to open our family gifts. It is dark in the room and I had no clue where my flash was so my camera was useless. Besides in that moment I just wanted to be with my kids and not capture them.
In my family there is the tradition of Santa's Helper. This person is the one who passes out all the presents, and in the past it was usually me who performed this task. Well without prompting Erik took on the role of Santa's Helper. He would bring me the present and ask who it was for and then bring each person their present. He went one step further and helped each person to unwrap their present. I have to say, the adults probably loved it as much as Erik.
Then we ate our big feast made by all the Johnson women and everyone started to say their good-byes. It was a fun day and great to be with all the friends and family we love. I knew Erik had a fun Christmas when he asked me this morning "who is coming over today," hoping that I would tell him our family was visiting again. Sorry kiddo, it was just us today.
By the time we had breakfast at 8:30 Erik had unwrapped all of his presents and Elliot still had half of his under the tree. At the end Erik had to beg Elliot to unwrap his presents and ended up helping him to unwrap a lot. I think part of this might be having communal toys and kids of the same gender. There really are no Erik or Elliot toys in our house, they all just go in the same melting pot so Erik is just as excited to see Elliot's toys knowing this fact.
We tried not to go crazy with the kids this year and gave them only a few things. The biggest hit was a Thomas train set and two trains that Elliot got from Santa. They were even a bigger hit than the "cars movie stuff" Erik had on his Santa list.
I would like to say that we spent the morning relaxing and just hanging out as a family waiting for everyone to arrive. I wish I could say that.
Instead Carl and I found ourselves in a new role of toy arbitrators. All morning long the boys wanted to play with the same toy and fought constantly. Neither boy cared or understood the concept that the toy was given to the other child. It just doesn't work in our house. So we quickly learned the art of toy arbitration because you can't take toys away on Christmas morning.
Then comes the hard part for me. Right at lunch time family came pouring in and I spent most of the rest of my time in the kitchen cooking, washing dishes or putting my kids to sleep. When my family is there I feel a bit overwhelmed and never really break out the camera much. So I only have one picture from that moment. The rest of the story doesn't come from my own hands.
When Grandma and Grandpa arrived they got the boys their "big" present, a power wheel. The directions say 3 and older, but Erik really needs a few driving lessons for this thing. It was pure chaos as everyone yelled directions and tried to teach him new things about this car. I got it that everyone was excited, but the poor kid was a bit overwhelmed with information. He just wanted to drive his new car and wear his new police man uniform. So we played for a bit and all went inside for companionship. Driving lessons to resume the next day.
My next favorite part of the day involved me so I wasn't able to capture it on camera, but my sister-in-law captured the moment a bit. We all gathered after naptime to open our family gifts. It is dark in the room and I had no clue where my flash was so my camera was useless. Besides in that moment I just wanted to be with my kids and not capture them.
In my family there is the tradition of Santa's Helper. This person is the one who passes out all the presents, and in the past it was usually me who performed this task. Well without prompting Erik took on the role of Santa's Helper. He would bring me the present and ask who it was for and then bring each person their present. He went one step further and helped each person to unwrap their present. I have to say, the adults probably loved it as much as Erik.
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| Wearing the cowl my sister-in-law made for me. LOVE it! |
Then we ate our big feast made by all the Johnson women and everyone started to say their good-byes. It was a fun day and great to be with all the friends and family we love. I knew Erik had a fun Christmas when he asked me this morning "who is coming over today," hoping that I would tell him our family was visiting again. Sorry kiddo, it was just us today.
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