Christmas, this year, was a HUGE success. For one, I got ALL my shopping done early. I wrapped a few presents each night, which was MUCH better than my usual "wrap here and there and then realize on the 24th that I have A TON to still wrap and then I'm scrambling to wrap and by Christmas morning I tell myself how annoying it is that I JUST wrapped all these and now it's a giant mess on the floor" M.O. I realized I was all done wrapping by the 18th, which was a surprise, but nice too. Because I had got it all done early, it made me really antsy for Christmas Day to get here for a while, plus today was filled with nice surprises when gifts were opened (I really did forget half of the things I got, haha).
When the kids woke up this morning, they were so antsy to get going they woke us up early claiming they were hungry. I did my usual "go downstairs, start music, turn on lights, and get ready to record their reactions" move. They were so excited to see everything (our couch is definitely getting more full each year with stocking items). We started with stockings, which were torn into, then we ate breakfast (we didn't have any eggs so we had to stick with pancakes and cereal), then we moved onto gifts under the tree. There were some screams while opening gifts, so I know they got good stuff, haha. I did good with making sure to get them 3-4 things that they specifically asked for (wrapped in Santa wrapping, of course), then the rest was clothing items they needed with a toy, book, or craft with it. I feel I did good, but Larry says I always go overboard with gifts (but he had depressing Christmases as a kid so he just doesn't get it).
I remember last year, after all the gifts were opened, we set the kids up with a gift while Larry and I cleaned things up. This year, I had NO motivation to clean. It was a huge mess and just felt overwhelming (it didn't help that I decided to clean out the activity closet on the 22nd and I still haven't finished it, so there were things ALL over the house already, probably a bad idea). I know future me will be mad I didn't clean, but I just didn't care.
One thing we did different this year was I heard of other people who like to bring food to people who work on Christmas (like firefighters, hospital workers, etc.) since they have to be away from their families and I thought that was a fabulous idea. So we ordered some Papa Murphy's on the 24th and grabbed some Chomps and some Gatorades from the store this past weekend to take with it. Then after we were done with gifts, we got all dressed up and took it over to the closest fire station. They were so excited and surprised, it was such a good feeling (they even gave the kids some plastic firefighter hats as a thank you).
After we got back from that, we put on the Cowboys Christmas game (however, they are already out of the playoffs so watching it felt a little weird since the outcome wouldn't matter whether they won or lost it), while waiting for Mom and Will to finish up at Andy and Rachel's to head to our home. Visiting with them was so fun. They always bring SO much for the kids (which they love) AND they gave me one of my other favorite gifts: my own Cheesehead to wear for the Packer's games! My mom had her boss grab it when he was near Lambeau recently and I absolutely LOVE it!
After they left, we mostly just moved things off the couch so we could watch shows or movies together and not be sitting no little items. Again, future Jodi will be very upset with me, but I just don't care.
We also made a nice big ham dinner with stuffing, mashed potatoes, olives, and rolls, that turned out SO amazing (especially with deviled eggs...of course! I've decided next year we need to make those once a month because I'm obsessed with them!). I wanted a very low key Christmas Day, haha. And it was definitely one for the books!
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