Home for the Holidays
Well, it’s Christmas eve and I’m completely done with everything I needed to do. All the presents are wrapped, cookies baked, scooters and trikes assembled and not a damn thing planned for tomorrow.
We usually travel the weekend before Christmas to see my sister-in-law’s family and all my husband’s siblings come and it’s a big, hectic gathering where I generally spend the whole 2-3 days chasing my toddler around and making sure he doesn’t fall in the unsecured pool or break something or many things. Oh, and listening to my daughter complain that her cousin (2 yrs older) won’t play with her, which always pisses me off because it’s so rude and bratty of him. Not exactly my definition of fun but we still do it just about every year.
This year, however, we didn’t do it because our only car (since the vacation fiasco of early December that resulted in the untimely death of my momvan) is a Camry and it’s just not conducive to family trips. We don’t travel light and at Christmas time we have presents and stuff to bring with us. Ugh… So we bailed this year.
And we usually spend Christmas day at my in-laws house which is always preceded by a fashion tantrum from me because I don’t want to wear the same thing I wore last year or at Thanksgiving the month before but I can’t dress down because they all dress so nice and I don’t want to be the shlub.
So I hem and haw and curse my lack of non-casual clothing and I curse the fact that I’m 15 lbs heavier than I was before I had kids and had to give away all my nice clothes and then I throw together something Christmas-y that I hate and we show up late.
Then I spend the whole time making sure my son doesn’t wreck the place or injure himself and I spend the entire meal trying to coax him to eat something instead of doing what he normally does when left to his own devices which is really messy and pretty unsavory for those who aren’t accustomed to his antics.
Good times, indeed. But alas, we will not be having those good times this year as my mother-in-law has decided to go out of state for Christmas.
Which means? We get to open presents and then lounge around the house all day. No fashion crises, no toddler-wrangling, no small talk, no formal dinner. In fact, I think we’re just going to order out tomorrow evening and not even attempt cooking a meal, which is good seeing as I don’t actually HAVE the stuff required for a holiday dinner.
Either way, it’s going to be our first no-commitment Christmas in thirteen years. Can you feel me exhaling a huge sigh of relief (and joy)?
So I went to the mall today because I’m a masochist and I had a yen for some real pain and suffering. I just had a couple last minute things I needed to get which I think is pretty impressive considering I haven’t had a car at my disposal for two weeks now.
Did you know that if you try to buy one of those moisture-wicking, stretchy running shirts for a man, on Christmas eve, that the only sizes left in every single store will be XXL and XXXL? That’s great if your guy wears one of those sizes. If he wears a medium? You’re shit out of luck.
Also, I had a mall-bangs sighting. At the mall. Ha ha! but seriously, who does that anymore? WHO?
Okay, time to try and go to sleep. I’m notorious for being tired and cranky on Christmas morning.
I wish you all a very merry Christmas. May your day have no family arguments, hurt feelings, obnoxious in-laws or weird gifts – like the chocolate fountain we got last year.
I was all for it until my BFF told me you had to add oil to the chocolate to make it flow, which totally grossed me out. But I know, ultimately, that I’m much better off not having oily chocolate in my life.
I’ve tried to think of someone who might like it so I could regift it to them but I seriously don’t know a single person who would welcome an oily chocolate fountain into their home. It might be time to rejoin that freakshow known as Freecycle.
Enjoy your Christmas :)
merry christmas izzy!
have a good one my friend.
cameo’s last blog post..I Dropped The Ball
Happy Christmas Izzy!
Well I dodged a bullet there, thanks Izzy. My kids wanted one of those freaking fountains. Oily chocolate….. blech.
Hope you have a truly blissful day. Sounds like my idea of wonderful. It is Boxing day here in Oz (we are a day ahead of you in time and years behind in everything else) so today is a day of putting up my sons drama-filled cubby and my girls playing with their Wii. Which they have called Jesus. Cause it was born on Christmas Day.
Hear that sound? That is my MIL spinning in her grave!
Kelley’s last blog post..Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
Merry Christmas, Iz.
(p.s. we also have a Camry :))
Happy Christmas, Izzy. I am glad you got to be at your happy home.
Those chocolate fountains look so damned icky to me. And with kids? Fergeddaboutit. I had a party once with a crock pot of chocolate fondue and you would be AMAZED at the places kids can drip/smear/track chocolate.
Suebob’s last blog post..He hasn’t asked for them back
Hope you enjoyed your commitment free Christmas! BTW, I saw them selling chocolate already to be melted for the fountain at Michael’s. I must admit, we got one last Christmas, still in the box in the basement!
MamaMaven’s last blog post..Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night
Our holidays are always quiet ones like this, just the four of us here at home with no pressure and no guests. I can’t stand the chaos, and we dare not travel back to Ohio in winter. Ick.
Hope your Christmas was peaceful and restful. You deserve it!
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Imagine the repercussions if you regifted it to someone taking Alli. Yeah, my mind goes there.
Just found your blog and am loving it :) Sounds like a great holiday to me, I am envious, might try for something like that next year because I am just too tired for words.
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Merry xmas Iz. Hope you had a lovely commitment-free day that’s turning into a lovelier commitment-free week.
Hope you had a Merry Christmas. We had a big weekend planned out of state but then my little guy came down with RSV and we cancelled. It was kinda nice being at home once the choking on mucous phase was behind us.
Now we will be travelling this weekend which is exciting but hectic all the same. A three year old and a six month old for 6 hours. Oh and probably a boston terrier.
Christmas Day, as we were driving an hour and a half to my Aunt and Uncle’s house for dinner, my husband asked me if next year we could just stay home and do nothing for Christmas. It fills me with all kinds of guilt because I am terrible about visiting family except at Christmas, and I would hate to miss that one opportunity to see them, but my husband has a point. So I don’t know what we will end up doing next year. Glad you had a low stress Christmas!!
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I hope that you enjoyed your holiday at home so much that you forego the insanity in years to come. Since the year I was pregnant with CJ, I have resolved that I will not leave home - MY home - for either Thanksgiving or Christmas until my children start hosting the holidays themselves (assuming they invite me to visit then, of course).
There’s a lot to be said for lounging in jammies until 3pm with no one to impress except the video camera.
mothergoosemouse’s last blog post..What do you get a pregnant woman for Christmas?
After eating about 43 double fudge so yummy-licious brownies over Christmas and making myself completely, totally nauseous, oily chocolate still sounds good. Seriously, what is wrong with me?
Merry (belated) Christmas!
Here’s to lounging on Christmas! We did the same thing and it was the best Christmas ever. Hope your holidays are still relaxing. You need it after this year.
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Your mall bangs brought back some ghosts! I had the mall bangs in different shades and colors during that era. Good times. More proof that youth is wasted on the young! ;0
ah yes, we love Christmas or do we? We just cleaned up everything earlier because of my surgery, however, I know no matter what i say, I’ll do it again next year….
Merry Christmas, glad you got to stay home..it’s always wonderful for the kids to wake up in their own beds Christmas morning.
Dorothy from grammology
remember to call gram
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Oh God that is a freakshow.
Wanted: One blue sock.
Um, kay. I’ll rush right over and give that to you after I’m done picking up a half opened box of granola bars from the lady one town over.
Lotta’s last blog post..Good Like Candy!
We love our chocolate fountain, kids call our house the chocolate house LOL.
We too received it as a gift and wondered “what the……” but now love it. People even borrow it!
Ours didn’t come with an instruction book so I didn’t know about the oil…I just added cream to thin it.
Dark chocolate plus cream with strawberries and marshmallows DELICIOUS!
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