Well, it’s 3:20 am on December 24, and I am finally finished for the night and am ready to grab a few hours of sleep before waking up to begin my favorite 24 hours of the year. I made my final Christmas Target run this afternoon (although I guess at this point that was actually yesterday afternoon), and tonight the kids and I went to our good friends’ awesome holiday crafting party up the street from our house.
Once Jon got the little girls to sleep tonight, and the big kids hit the sack (including one extra teenage pal we have over tonight), I sat down in front of our fireplace, turned on “Elf” for the millionth time (we will watch it again before bed tomorrow night), and set about wrapping all the gifts that are going to get wrapped tonight. I also stashed extra special goodies in the kids’ Advent calendars for them to find when they wake up on this last day of the season, and did some other pre-Santa’s arrival organizing around our quiet, sleepy house. That’s how it happens that I am still awake at this hour.
I think I now have everything ready for a magical and fun Christmas for Jon and the kids, and that makes me irrationally exuberant. I wanted this year to be extra special for them because it’s our last one before J leaves for college. I know she will be home from school for Christmas next year, but still, this last holiday with her actually living here with all of us feels like a big milestone in our family’s life.
But as much as I do want Christmas to be great for the children, and busy as I’ve been with my holiday activities and prep in recent days, this year I’ve really tried to remember my “aha” realization of last December, and I’ve done my best not to get so caught up in the process of “doing” Christmas the way that I like to do it that I fail to actually be in the moments as they happen. And I think I’ve done a fair job of it.
This year, I actually didn’t even put up all of our decorations (although you would probably never know it to look at how many we do have all over the house.) I didn’t unpack the Christmas china for us to use this month, and there’s no second Christmas tree upstairs like there was last year. But the humongous tree that we do have this year is – we all agree – the prettiest one we’ve ever had, and the house looks warm and cozy and just right, even without the Santa-themed handtowels that I never unpacked hanging in the bathroom. I just scaled back the details some this year, and tried to be a bit less of a perfectionist. And I’m happy with that decision.
However, I did add one new tradition this year that the kids seem to really like: Christmas jammies.
Our family already has quite a few ongoing Christmas traditions – some quite ancient, like the annual visit from Uncle Louie of Pigsnuffle – and other newer ones, like last year’s addition of D’Brickashaw, the elf on our shelf.
I know that many American families get and give new PJs every year at Christmastime, and there seem to lots of families who unwrap their new holiday sleepwear on Christmas Eve.
This particular holiday tradition wasn’t one with which I grew up, but as a lover of all things cozy sleepwear, I’ve always thought this idea of new Christmas pajamas each season sounded lovely, and over the years I’ve thought about doing it for my own kids many times, but, well, I just somehow never got around to it.
But this year, for whatever reason, I decided that I was going to get with the Christmas PJs program and launch a brand new tradition in our family. And so I did. I decided to give the kids their new PJ’s a few days before Christmas, and I think that was the right call since they’ve all been wearing them pretty much non-stop ever since, and they look super cute. E even wore his to our friends’ Christmas party tonight. I will definitely be making the Christmas jammies a permanent addition to our menu of holiday rituals.
Well, I guess I had better hit the sack now, but before I do, I want to share some of the photos from our holiday season so far. It’s really been relaxing and fun, and I hope that every single one of you reading this – whether you actually celebrate Christmas or not – also enjoys a peaceful next few days full of whatever good things bring you joy.
Love (and goodnight!)
Katie
C and G in their new Christmas jammies, which they both loooove.
Here’s E sporting his new holiday loungewear, including at a party tonight
And here are various offspring of mine plus their cousins making crafts and hanging out.
The kids started their online Santa tracking today. Here’s C at her Aunt Betsy’s desk.
And E with cousins M and El attempting to hit up the NORAD site on the iPhone this afternoon.
Earlier today we made a valiant attempt to get all 11 Allison first cousins – ages 17, 14, 14, 13, 11, 10, 8, 6, 5, 5, and 2 – to pose for a photo. As you can see, the results were mixed. Also, the only way we could get G to cooperate at all was to bribe her with that bowl of mac & cheese on which she’s noshing with single-minded focus
I love this monkey ornament pattern on J’s new holiday jammies.
Uncle Robert & G talk some serious Christmas bidness.
I’d love to hear what some of y’all are doing this holiday season. What are some of your family’s little traditions & rituals, and where did they come from? Does Santa come to your house like he does to ours? Do you ever stay up til 3am drinking eggnog and wrapping gifts and generally acting like a Christmasaholic like I do? However you celebrate, I want to hear about it! Let’s talk home for the holidays…
Every Christmas Eve, each child opens one gift–a Christmas book–and then I read them aloud before bed. From this has a sprung a newer tradition, a Christmas bedtime story party that I’ve put on for five years now. The kids come in their pajamas, and we sit by the tree while I read some of the favorite stories to them. Then they eat sugar cookies and drink hot chocolate.
On Christmas Eve, after the Children’s Mass we always attend, we go out to eat at the Olive Garden. That tradition started when we were hungry after Mass and I didn’t feel like cooking, and it was the only open restaurant!
We did the Christmas jammies for years-they were always the gift from a dear friend of ours. She died way too young, and unexpectedly, in 2006 and for some reason I haven’t picked up where she left off. Our traditions require everyone wearing a Santa hat through the present-opening, and our only Jewish family member handing out the gifts. Another tradition is Christmas Morning Coffee Cake-a recipe that I cut out of The Boston Globe in 1988. I only make it that once a year, and everyone loves it. Wishing you no small amount of joy, Katie, and as always hoping for peace for you and yours. You’ve been through way too much.
XOXO
Don’t forget to read The Night Before Christmas.
I used to spend all Christmas eve wrapping presents late into the night (dawn?). We’d put off wrapping things as we didn’t want to forget what we bought whom; so Xmas eve would come and a huge pile of presents would be looming. My husband would invariably fall asleep by 8:30 pm for one reason or another. I’d be wrapping alone, listening to George Winston’s December. Now, my husband has the older kids wrap presents a few days before Christmas. I’m not sure if I like this, but I admit I can’t do the late nights anymore.
Does writing Christmas cards after Christmas count as a tradition? That’s certainly the only consistent thing we’ve done otherwise these past few years! I still don’t have a Christmas photo this year – as the kids get older it’s harder to pin everyone down for a few minutes.
My mom had a few traditions she did each year. She always did the new jammies on Christmas Eve tradition with me. I loved it! That is the bummer of being old, it’s just not as fun anymore to get gifts. We never had much money, but my mom made it all so special, I never noticed. I miss feeling so excited to see what she made me each year. I also got a beautiful dress (usually long when I was small) to wear for Christmas Eve dinner, which I adored. And lastly, the only one we still do- she always gives me an ornament every year. When I moved out and had my first tree, she boxed them all up and gave them to me. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
I got pjs this year as a new tradition and then left them in my room at home and went out of town….so the new, new tradition will be new year’s pjs. I was so looking forward to mine. I purposefully didn’t get holiday themed ones…just new ones for everyone.