Christmas 2015

It’s amazing how much a difference a day can make. Yesterday was Christmas Eve, and it was a bit overwhelming. All the kids seemed to have too much stored energy and it was coming out and not always in the best ways. There was lots of bickering and arguing going on. It was a busy day with Jen and I working to get lots of headway made for today and meals last night.

Christmas for me is all about getting to spend time with family and friends. We are lucky enough to usually celebrate with multiple meals between getting together with my family and Jen’s. In years past though we have always had meals with Jen’s family at our house and meals with my family at my Mothers house. This year though we are doing both sets here.

There are lots of upsides to this because everyone gets to come to us and we don’t have to travel and hurry from one place to the next. It also means a lot of work getting meals ready, cleaned up, house presentable etc. Getting to be with everyone is worth it though, and the food is always excellent.

With all the prep work yesterday and the kids the way they were I ended up going for a run more or less to clear my head and get some time alone. I always feel better after a run and indeed it did help.

Today has been a different story. Because of all our hard work yesterday there wasn’t as much to do today. The kids let us sleep in until shortly after 7:00am which was lovely. We opened gifts with Jen’s family and celebrated my Mother In Laws birthday at the same time. My sister and her family came over for what has become our Christmas lunch tradition of enchiladas and quesadillas. Once we were done we took advantage of some amazing weather and went for a walk all together at the marsh. There were many other people out with the same idea.

When we got back I peeled some sweet potatoes for dinner and then, strictly because of the beautiful weather, I decided to go for a run again. For Christmas I had received a couple items of winter running wear but I’m very thankful I didn’t get to try them out today. Instead I went for my first short sleeved run in quite a while.

After a delicious Christmas/Birthday dinner in which I was able to control myself and not over do it on the desert, unlike last night, it was very nice to sit and relax for a bit.

Once everyone left though we did a final cleanup of the gifts so that we can make it through and sit in the living room without squishing anything. Now with the kids off to bed we can really relax, just Jen and I, with just the lights from the Christmas tree.

I’m very thankful to have so much family close by who we can share these special holidays with, it really does make the little bit of stress that comes along with the busy time of year all worth it.