We got home from holiday traveling on Tuesday. I asked Andy if he wanted me to set up some play dates this week and he answered with a loud "NO". He wanted to play his new video games by himself, he didn't want to share them, and he didn't want to do anything else. I kind of don't blame the kid. He had to wait three days after opening them to play them and all he wanted to do was play. If he invites a friend over to play with him, he has to, well, be nice and share and be respectful and use manners. Who wants to do that?
It probably was for the best. I had all these grandiose ideas about what we were going to do with our time off over the holidays. I always do. We're going to have play dates with wonderful friends that we never otherwise get to see (yes, I'm talking about you Mel!), organize the house in a way that would put a professional organizer to shame, do all those little projects that have stacked up over the last few months, sort through the toys that need to be thrown/given away, put away all the holiday decorations, and play in the yard, go out to eat, go to the movies and do a whole bunch of other fun stuff.
As it is now, the kids go back to school in four days and we haven't done much of anything. The living room is a mess, less of a mess since Charlie picked up a lot of it today, the decorations are still up, there are still piles of stuff that have been in the same place for months and need to be put away (the cleaning ladies must wonder why that stuff sits around week after week), and we haven't decided on any toys to get rid of. We haven't seen anyone, but we did manage to eat out a couple of times (only because I was way too lazy to cook) and go to the movies (the popcorn counted as one of our times eating out).
Anyway, here are some holiday observations I made in the past week:
1. The kids never listen to me - This is kind of a given, kids never listen. However, what I'm referring to is that fact that on Christmas Day, after making cookies, sledding, watching the third Harry Potter movie (which he has wanted to watch "forever") and opening a present, Andy still declared this Christmas as "the worst Christmas ever". This isn't because he didn't have any fun doing those things, although he did get in trouble while sledding and have to stop early, but because even though I told him about 100 times that his cousins were not coming until Sunday and that's when we were going to open presents and celebrate Christmas, he was disappointed that his cousins weren't around to play with on Christmas Day. Maybe next year we'll be the last to arrive and first to leave. That won't make my mom very happy but it will show him.
2. The less we travel, the longer it takes to recover - When we used to travel all the time it was a piece of cake. We didn't have to make a packing list because we knew exactly what we needed to take and never forgot anything. We could pack for a week long trip within an hour and fit everything into the tiniest of suit cases. When we got home everything was washed and put away within a day. Now, we hardly ever travel, because the thought of security and entertaining everyone all flight long is so daunting, and we are the most inefficient packers around. We bring too much, we forget things, and it takes me days to get our suit cases cleaned out and put away. The entryway is still littered with back packs and books and other things that we are too tired and lazy to put in their proper place.
3. There is no down side to buying your own presents - This year I told Charlie I would buy my own presents. He was worried that deep down I'd be upset that he didn't shop for me or that my presents weren't a surprise (usually I'm all about the surprise) and that I'd hold it over him and bring it up in future arguments about how he does nothing around here (a) I wouldn't do that and b) he does a ton around here). It was fabulous. I got exactly what I wanted. How can you be disappointment with that?
4. Christmas is definitely not as much fun as it used to be - When I was I a kid all I had to do was open lots and lots of presents. Now, I have to buy and wrap lots and lots of presents, figure out gifts for the teachers/coaches/therapists/whoever, order/write/send the holiday cards, do a whole bunch of other crap I'm subconsciously blocking from my mind, and do it all when I'm not with the kids, which is almost never. I used to love Christmas, it was my absolute favorite time of year. Now, not so much. However, I do love seeing my family, watching Charlie and the kids open their presents and receiving holiday cards from all of our friends far and wide, so even though it's not quite as much fun as it used to be, it's all good.
Even though we didn't get to see our friends, organize our house or tackle any projects, the most important thing is that we spent some fun time with the kids and made some memories. I have my memories of Christmas past and theirs will be very different, but not in a bad way. On Monday 16 of us went sledding. It was a blast. My brother, the biggest kid of all, organized a sled train with all the kids and they kept going down the hill with 4-5 sleds grouped together. My kids will never forget that. That's what this time of year is all about.
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