christmas 2018! but of course!

I never recapped Christmas. How did that get away from me?! It was the sluggish, soporific, I-deserve-rest haze I was very happily under that I blame. I know I’m not the first to point this out, but that week after Christmas before New Year’s really does have me in this strange, delicious time warp. I started books, I don’t recall changing into real clothes too often, and I lazily hung around as the kids played with their new things around me. It was wonderful.But blogger I am. I need to record our Christmas here. Like our presents! And that sweet corner of our house that looks especially full and festive when there’s a tree there. And the full house we were blessed to have. My Mom and Dad were in town for our Christmas this year, plus our own big family.  A very happy boy eager to get out of bed for presents.And everyone! We managed this picture at about 7:15 am which is a nice middle ground. Though the older kids might still disagree. It’s not that still-dark-out hour of the morning, nor is it like 11 am. I had gotten some of these pajamas sent to me by Burt’s Bees and when William saw them, he decided everyone needed them and got them for the older kids for Christmas. It was the only present opened on Christmas Eve and it was pretty hilarious.On Christmas Eve we played Dutch Blitz (William’s introduced us and it’s a great family game), and watched It’s a Wonderful Life (Steve’s forever favorite). We went to a beautiful Christmas Eve service at an Episcopal church we really like, came home to have two chicken divan casseroles (nothing fancy, but a crowd favorite; I might make it a Christmas Eve tradition) and had my sister and her family over for “Christmas cookies and cocktails.” I made a Christmas white cranberry margarita. Basically a white margarita with a rosemary sprig and cranberries floating in it. Very fancy. Here’s everyone on Christmas morning playing with various things. Anders in one of his favorite presents: this ninja costume. Parker is putting together a Lego Set, and the big kids are playing Game of Thrones Monopoly (Lindsey’s present to Nathaniel. Happy to say she hasn’t actually seen GOT yet though, but she still managed to win the game.)Our Christmas breakfast casserole was really good, so I gotta share the link with you here! It was the buttery breakfast casserole from NYTimes cooking–their recipes are always killer. I would recommend a lower temp for toasting the croissants though, or just keep a close eye on them. We also had cinnamon rolls from a favorite bakery of ours, and blueberries of course. #Balance I feel like the above picture is one that I’m going to look back on when I’m older and miss a full house. And then… FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD at my sister’s house where we went for Christmas dinner. There was also the main course, which I didn’t get a picture of but was fantastic: filet and potatoes and green beans and… all the good stuff.

It was truly a fantastic Christmas. I doubted that I would really, really enjoy the holiday because my headspace going into it was one of stress, feeling overwhelmed. Steve was experiencing some stress at work, I was feeling like I was doing it all solo. But Christmas Eve, in the kitchen prepping dinner with my Mom and having one of my margaritas, I finally gave in, let go. What was done was done, and anything that wasn’t done, no one noticed anyway. We managed to pull it off! And learn a few lessons. Namely, don’t sign up for quite as much next year.

Happy New Year, friends. May 2019 be a good year for us all.

P.S. I highly recommend watching this with your kids today.