I hope everyone who is celebrating the holidays had a merry week. We are hanging in there. Christmas itself went decently. The kids performed in the church Christmas Eve pageant: two readers, a member of the wisemen’s retinue, and a sheep. They did very well! I sang in the 8:30 p.m. service, making it home around 10 p.m. for my various Christmas duties.
Sadly, sleep has not been a great part of this vacation — I was up in the middle of Christmas night for a while, and while the kids weren’t up that early (7 a.m.) it still hurt. I’ve been trying to nap most days to be a bit merrier about the whole thing.
We did stockings and presents in our matching pajamas (pop over to Instagram — @lvanderkam — to see all of us). They’re not overtly Christmas-y, so I bought an 0-3 month size (see picture) for the baby to wear with us when he is born.
Speaking of which…no baby yet. Just a very uncomfortable mommy.
The kids have been having fun playing with their new toys. For any podcast listeners, my eldest did indeed wind up getting Netflix, so he’s been watching that. Santa brought roller skates for the littler kids. There were a fair number of Nerf guns, but those have now been taken away for a while as the play did not stay under control. The 4-year-old has been off his schedule and has been a bit of a beast. I’m hoping that calms down soon as my patience level is not high at the moment.
We made it to Longwood Gardens’ Christmas lights, plus to the Cirque du Soleil “Holidaze” show. The 8-year-old and 4-year-old put on a circus of their own last night as a result — balancing stuffed animals on their heads instead of cups and such. It was cute. The rest of the break will feature a visit from cousins, probably the Elmwood Park Zoo lights, and Disney on Ice.
Then we shall see. I should probably do posts on the end of the year and prepping for the next one (both great productivity topics) or even the end of the decade and goals for the next decade but…right now I’m taking time day by day.
I hope you have had a wonderful holiday week!
I took my kids skiing today. My 6-year-old hated it and fussed most of the time. He skied about 1 hour and then spent the rest of the time (and money) in the lodge. Also, our (almost new) car died, and we had to get a rental. On the ski trip. I love Christmas and I love trips, in general, but being with the kids all day can wear your patience thin even when you are not tgird-trimester pregnant. Hope you get some rest and relaxation
Keep hanging in there! That’s the theme of this Christmas for me too – turns out it’s a lot to manage at 38 weeks pregnant!