Tis’ the Season

We were at a holiday party last weekend and someone asked my husband if we were ready for the holidays.  Since I’ve been dubbed the “CEO of Holidays” at our house, he immediately turned to me and said, “Are we?” 

At that point in time unfortunately my answer was, “Not yet”.  But now with the holidays right on our doorstep and as we head into the final stretch, I’m confident that we’re now as ready as we’ll ever be. 

This is because by now, we’ve listened to just about every holiday song ever sung and watched just about every holiday movie ever written including “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “The Santa Clause” (one, two, and three), “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” (cartoon and Jim Carrey version), “Home Alone” (one, two, and three), “The Polar Express”, “Jingle All the Way”, “White Christmas”, “Miracle on 34th Street” and the granddaddy of them all – “It’s A Wonderful Life”. 

In addition, gifts and gift cards have all been purchased for our family, friends and co-workers, and I’ve hit the dollar stores for stocking stuffers.  We’ve got a book wrapped for my third grader’s school book exchange and submitted a box of graham crackers and white frosting for my fourth grader’s gingerbread house project.   

Normally this would be the point in the season where I would be stressed, hoping I have it all done and wondering what I’ve forgotten to do.  But this year, I vowed to myself to remain calm, and although it’s been a challenge, I think I’ve done pretty well.  To keep in tune with this though, I had to eliminate something.  Mailing out holiday cards was what took the fall – and I forced myself not feel guilty about it. 

My kids have now hit the point where they are pretty much bouncing off the walls with excitement in anticipation of the big day.  Every day now like clockwork, my youngest children ask me the same two questions.    

“How many days now until Christmas?” my nine-year-old daughter asks every night at bedtime.  “One day closer than it was yesterday,” I tell her.     

The second question comes from my 10-year-old son who immediately asks when he walks in the door from school, “Have you wrapped any more presents today?”  He’ll then take a running leap over to our Christmas tree and scour through the gifts under it looking for any new packages.  He’s like a little private investigator sifting through the presents and shaking each and every gift with his name on it to try to determine its contents. 

This year though, I’m throwing my kids off by wrapping smaller items in larger boxes so it’s harder for them to figure out what’s inside.  I put some gift cards in shirt and shoe boxes and it’s driving them crazy trying to figure it out.  I can’t wait to see their faces when they open all the presents Christmas morning.  After all, a mom’s gotta have some fun!