Naptime Blog

Another Christmas has come and gone, we are in the New Year, kids have gone back to school, the holiday cookies and cakes are out of the house, and we are now in January.  I love the holidays.  Although it is extremely exhausting, I enjoy the decorating, the shopping, the baking, the sending and receiving Christmas cards, and the family time.  Possibly my favorite day of the whole year is Christmas Eve, with the anticipation that I remember as a child being re-invented with my children and the beautiful traditions that I had growing up and which my husband and I are continuing with our family, the holiday is simply magical.  I love Christmas morning, and each year gets more and more amazing, as this year we had four loves to celebrate with, including a seven year old who is still a Santa believer (thank goodness!), twin boys who don’t quite understand the concept yet, but absolutely adored ripping off wrapping paper and enjoying all their new toys, and a new baby who celebrated his very first Christmas.  But there is something about the day after New Year’s Day that makes me want to clean it all up and get back to normal.  And now even that day has come and gone and I am still staring at a tree with a ton of gifts under it and decorations that unfortunately are not going to get put away by the munchkins who come and clean the dishes in the sink each evening (yeah, right!)

On December 23rd I ordered my last two Christmas presents online: a small set of drawers for the new clothes for the kids and a children’s twelve bin toy organizer for all their new toys.  I expected the delivery on New Year’s Eve, and when I checked the UPS site for tracking and learned that the delivery was rescheduled for Monday, I was not a happy camper.  So the first day of “back to normal” (Monday the 4th) was spent putting these things together and putting away the kids’ new clothes and toys. 

I still have a lot of things to keep sorting…  something that usually was done by this point.  I am in the process of removing the small clothes and sorting the clothes that are too big (why do people buy clothes in a size 3T for children who are only 17 months old or 12 months for a baby who is 3 months old?  I always put those outfits away and when the kids are big enough to wear them I usually either forget I have them OR they are for the wrong season!  But I will save these thoughts for another blog!).  I am also in the process of putting away the gifts of my husband and I, and am either waiting for him to put some of our new things together (and take out the cardboard and boxes) or doing it myself.  Add to that my (work at home) full-time job and my writing, PLUS still caring for four children (and 2 of them were sick over the holiday week, hindering my plans of putting everything away) and I am really itching to get this tree down already!  Only thing: I can’t get to it until all these other things are out of the way!

My husband is calling me Scrooge.  I would love to see him sort through all these gifts, toys and clothes and put the decorations away!  Too bad he has to work tomorrow!

What our tree looked like on Christmas Eve

Jennifer
Wife to Paul, Mom to Juliana (7), Anthony and Louis (1) and Joseph (3 months)
www.nevaland.com