Between Paige's birthday, getting ready for the holidays, work, and everyday life, these past two weeks have flown by! We've celebrated together, cooked, eaten, and hopefully started some new family traditions-- not to mention the oodles and oodles of pics I've taken! I've tried to share some of the best here with you......
Christmas time at our house has always been a little different. I'm a nurse, and the hospital never closes. People have babies on Christmas (whether they want to or not!!!), and sometimes I have to work Christmas. As a result, our family has gotten very flexible about how and when we celebrate the holidays. Chris and I have discovered over the years that we actually like celebrating on different days. It seems to take a lot of the stress out of it for us. And, let's face it, it's just fun to open presents before everyone else does!!!
I'm a great believer of exposing our kids to many different types of experiences. Last year we celebrated Christmas, so I though this year it would be fun to celebrate the Solstice. December 21st is usually the first day of winter, and the longest night of the year. So, on Monday night we explored what "the longest night of the year" meant in terms of the earth, the animals, and how we live. We read stories, shared what our favorite parts of winter are, and spent some quiet time together as a family. It was actually very peaceful, and the kids not only engaged, but enjoyed it as well. And yes, if I knew enough about Hanukkah or some of the other winter holidays celebrated around the world, we'd probably celebrate those, too.
After that, it was our Holiday Celebration as usual, with the opening of the traditional PJs and movie before bed. Aiden and Paige chose to turn all the lights out but the tree, and watch UP, pretending like we were in a movie theater. Then it was cookies and milk for Santa, and off to bed to anxiously await the morning. The great thing about kids is their imagination. If we tell them that all it takes is an email to Santa letting him know that we're celebrating on a different day this year, then that's all it takes.
The kids let us sleep to a leisurely 8:30 in the morning. Santa is smart.... We put the baby gate up at the top of the stairs so no wayward children can sneak down. And then Santa leaves their stockings just outside their bedroom door. It buys mom and dad about 30 extra minutes in the sack!!!
After the oohs and aahs over Santa gifts, and waiting laboriously while I threw breakfast in the oven, the kids had a grand time covering the living room in ribbon, paper, and boxes. Aiden and Paige did a great job taking turns opening gifts this year, and Finn watched with wonder (and tried to eat the paper). The kitties made an appearance, looking for prime pieces of ribbon. Chris guessed his present again this year (arrrggggggh), and I got some great things that Chris and the kids picked out for me. We had a blast just hanging out together and enjoying the morning.
The afternoon brought a couple projects we'd been looking forward to. 1st, we made pine cone bird feeders. Remember those pine cones that Paige gathered for her nature walk? Well, I finally had a great use for them. The kids and I tied a ribbon around each one, slathered them in peanut butter, and rolled them in bird seed. Voila! A homemade treat for those few silly birds that didn't go south for the winter. Paige thought it was great fun, but Aiden thought it was kind of a chore. Of course. And he had to touch the peanut butter (eeeewwwwwww.....).
The last project we worked on was decorating a gingerbread house. We got one of the kits, hoping to make things easy. Let's just say that we all discovered what NOT to do..... Hopefully we'll be more successful at it next year. The kids were really into it (for about five minutes). Paige kept chanting, "eat the house, eat the house!!!", and was supremely disappointed when we told her it was for show only.
All in all, it was a great day and a great celebration. I'm hoping in the years to come, that we can discuss as a family what our favorite parts of different traditions are, and come up with a unique set of traditions all our own.
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