Christmas in Brevity

Christmas! 

We had three straight days and the house looks it! Ha! It was a short week as we slid into the weekend.

We started slowly, headed up to say Hi to Grandma Dar through the window before coming home and opening our family gifts. Each child had one big gift. Ainsley got her chair, finally - which Matt and I were glad to see her open because she's been fighting with her siblings about where people sit. The olders got a desk and chair set from us. This has also been a long time coming item as E's taken over my counter for so long, it's good to see her projects and papers find a new place. They were excited to start using them and get them in their spot. Ains was sad that she didn't get one but she did get a bassinet for her baby. 

It was a very baby Christmas for Ains. She got baby items at each Christmas including dress up clothes and bathsets and three new babies. We spent Christmas day at the farm. My children are very lucky and Eleanor was excited about a few items that made me chuckle including Poppy panties and Frozen/Elsa Ziploc Bags for her lunch box. Grady got a combine and when you combine that with the remote control construction items that we got him, he's really getting into the trucks and tractors. 

 

On Saturday, we had Remynse Christmas where Grady for a tractor to work on and the girls got oodles of dress-up clothes for their dolls and babies. Our children are incredibly lucky to have people in their lives that are so intent on making them smile and giving them the world. There are things that will make me laugh as I think back to this holiday.... Eleanor and her brand new camera - taking pictures of E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.i.N.G. Grady putting on his sister's dress up gloves and shoes or sporting his fighter pilot jumpsuit, or Ainsley opening up her Santa bear - which is a word that you make no questions about when you hear it. 

These Christmases when they are little are so bittersweet. There are 9 million moving parts and 9 million directions and movements but I know they will be little for a short time. I know the magic will fade, that Santa will seem feeble and silly, that the Elf will one day find a new home, that presents will come in smaller boxes and capture their attention. There will be less dress up and more electronics. There will be less grinch on the tv. I'm hoping there may be more sleeping in or a little calmer but I assume there will be a time when I can't put them all in the same t-shirt and they not fight me. My Christmas wishes are that they will always let me pick out Christmas jammies. I hope they will also have some excitement that they let show - whether it be new leggings or pencil pouches or roller blades. In the meantime, Santa and the Elf have a strong presence in our house - there will be cookies and sacks set out. There will be that little scout out because my children soaked in that magic and to me that was one of the most beautiful things that I could have seen this season. 

We enjoyed some great food too over the past couple days - king crab, lobster tails, prime rib, charcuterie trays, dips, shrimp, pizza... so much food and beverages. It will take a bit to work its way out of our system. Probably as long for the kids to adjust and get into a schedule again or for everything to find a new home. 

It was an incredibly odd Christmas for me. This is the first Christmas of my life where I didn't have a dozen Christmases to go to. Don't get me wrong... it's not a bad thing. Especially since I've gotten married, I've had this scheduling of here, then there, then there, and then off to there and to me it's part of the magic of Christmas. To see as many people in a short amount of time as possible because there are a lot of people who have made you into who you are, hands in the soup kinda thing and it's beautiful. This year there wasn't that. COVID sat in the back of my mind and made me nervous - nervous for my littles and nervous for all those hands so we decided to cut back as much as possible. We held for this Christmas so there can be more. Call me what you want - sheep, scared, too cautious, whatever, I don't care - I'd rather be cautious than careless. ANYWAY... this is the first Christmas in my entire life that I didn't see a grandparent. Holding glass and a phone while staring at my grandmother doesn't count. It's an odd thing when a definer of the season isn't there for you. I know many families were in the same boat. But also many families had empty spots at the table where loved ones should have been. There will be a day when I can't look through the window or pick up the phone to share stories about our Christmas plans and I fear for that day because those people, my grandparents, have been this constant steady in my life and I'm lucky to have three of them still marching time on this earth. 

Two things happened during Christmas that I need to comment on .. that weren't exactly Christmas-y but still make me smile. 1. Matt got to open his old wine - 30 years old or so? He'd been saving it to celebrate his accreditation. He wanted to share it with his parents and brother and he was very excited to open it. I'll admit, for a dry red, I was impressed. 

2. Matt took Grady hunting. According to Grady walked a path or too with Matt pheasant hunting. Grady also found a sleeping kitty - aka a dead coyote. And couldn't keep up pace walking with Matt - told him to slow down and that he kept getting stuck in the grass. 

GRR: Dad, Hunting is hard.
MJR: Yeah, it is bud.
GRR: Can we just ride in the side by side?