Four Months From Today...

 

Four months from today is Christmas Eve. I am so conflicted about the upcoming Christmas season. On the one hand I'm so excited for the joy of the season. On the other my life is so topsy-turvey right now that I sometimes dive into anxiety.

We put our current house on the market at the end of May. We sold it at the end of June. The CASH buyer dropped out this past Sunday. That's right, 20 days into escrow, long after the inspection period, they just changed their mind. Ugh.

We had already contacted the utilities, canceled the pool service, signed a contract on an apartment, and paid for renter's insurance. Sigh.

Now we start all over. 

And to top it all off, it now looks like our new house may not be done until January 2023. Really big sigh.

What does this have to do with Christmas you may wonder?

I have grandkids already clamoring about what are we going to do for Family Christmas? Where will we be for Family Christmas? We are going to have Family Christmas, aren't we?

It gives me joy to know that they really enjoy that tradition. It gives me pause to think about how I'm going to pull it off. My tentative plan right now (other than praying for a miracle that we'll SOMEHOW be in our new home) is to have Family Christmas at one of my girls' homes. They can provide the location, but I'll still plan the event.

To that end I'm continuing on my usual path towards a stress-free holiday. I've been shopping, wrapping, and storing gifts. I'm completely finished with gifts for three Grands and two adult kids. I'm disappointed that I won't be decorating this year, but oh well, that's life.

My oldest granddaughter, Sunny was over the other day and, out of the blue, asked if she could plan the Family Christmas menu. I said of course! And she did. So I texted my daughters with the menu and their food assignments. They laughed. I'm thrilled that the 13 year old is showing that kind of interest! haha

Four months from today my Family Christmas will be behind me. Christmas Eve is typically hosted by my SIL. Christmas Day is typically just Dan and I. To be honest, I ususally start taking Christmas decor down on Christmas Day (surreptitiously, as it irritates Dan!) 

Maybe I'll be in my new home (probably not), maybe I'll be in a tiny apartment (probably) but either way I'll be with my family and that's the joy for me.

This year's gift stash

July 28th

 

My plan for this post was to share photos of Christmas 2021. However to my dismay when I went to pull photos, there are none. I did not feel good at all last Christmas. I was dealing with Hyperthyroidism. The bad part of it was the racing heart, the severe anxiety, the feeling like I was running all the time even when I was sitting. The not-so-bad part was the rapid weight loss, haha. After visiting an Endocrinologist in Feburary, I was diagnosed with Thyroiditis. I was already on the mend by then and I feel fine now. 

I knew I didn't feel good, but I didn't realize I neglected to take photos. Oh well. We had professional family photos done that year so I'll share them instead.

Jessica's family

JD's family

Katie's family

Zach's family

Me and Dan

All of us

The Grands

July 21st

 

Today I'm revisiting one of my favorite Christmases, 2019. This is the year that I made the snowmen as giftwrap for our presents. I started the project in the summer by collecting sticks when we visited JD and Janel in Kansas. The snowmen came in three parts: gifts in the bottom, stocking stuffers in the middle and ornaments in the head. I had fun making them and every year since the grandkids have asked me if I'd make them again! I guess they were a hit. Katie gave everyone a beanie or hat for Christmas which we placed on each snowman. It was super fun and holds great memories for all of us.

My family disguised as snowmen!

You can see how thrilled I was with how they turned out

Me and Dan

This is the year I gave in and we all wore pj's for Christmas

Adam (with Snow)

Jessica (our oldest daughter)

Storm

Snow

JD (our oldest son), Janel, Winter, Blizzard

Katie (our 2nd daughter), Gabe, Thunder, Sunny

Zach (our youngest... and tallest!)

Skye

I love it when all the Grands are together!

July 14th

 

Today I'm looking back at 2009. Our first year as grandparents. What a special Christmas that was. The entire family gathered for the first time in a few years. And of course, Sunny was the center of attention!

Mom & Dad

Me and Dan

JD & Janel

Jess & Adam

Katie, Gabe, Sunny

Zach & Sunny

The star of the show!

Christmas in July 7.20.2021

 

As I mentioned yesterday, I got quite a bit Christmas shopping done this past weekend. Ya gotta love sales! 

If you've read my blog at all, you know that I have a fool-proof (for me) organizational system for the Holidays. In keeping with my system, I wrapped and tagged the gifts yesterday.

I have 20 people in my immediate family to give gifts to this year. I am completely finished with one grandchild. And have a good start on several other people. One down, 19 to go! It's such a good feeling to have a start toward a stress-free Christmas.

Christmas is Here! December Thirteenth

The annual cookie exchange today was a huge success!! 

I wanted to try to make special packaging for my cookies. I found some holiday cellophane I had bought from Current, Inc years ago and used it to make a tower of goodies. I found the mailbox at the top at Dollar Tree in September and used it to hold candy. The mail flag is up with each family's name written on it for easy handout.

The granddaughters made ornaments using glass balls and paint. The ladies each received a unique candle. We shared food and then divided up the goodies.

A good time was had by all!

Christmas Time's a'Comin'

 Oh boy! Only two months to go until Christmas Day! 

Have you been working toward a stress-free Christmas? I have. If ever we needed less stress this is the year. I've finished shopping for several people in my family. I have prepared my Family Christmas menu and my Christmas Day menu. I've wrapped all the gifts I've purchased to this point. And I'm finished with stocking stuffers for half the family.

This year has been chaotic at my house. My daughter and her two kids moved in on February 1st. She's having a house built and should get the keys on November 10th. We knew they would be living here for several months, but we had no idea that the virus was coming.

The kids school closed down March 13th and we began the awful, horrible, ridiculous, stressful, inadequate process of distance learning. It was really a joke for the rest of that school year. We survived Grammy's Summer Camp with virtually no activities. Thank goodness we have a swimming pool. Then began distance learning for the new school year. It is somewhat improved, but still incredibly stressful. My daughter works for a company that contracts with DCS, and is responsible for 150+ kids living in 18 group homes. She was working 12+ hour days for several months so the kids schooling fell to me. I felt (and feel) so inadequate.

Plus our house is stuffed to the brim with our stuff, their stuff, the stuff she's buying for the new house. I joke that I live in a warehouse.

Now Christmas is coming. The photo above shows my storage option this year for purchased/wrapped gifts. It's not great, but it works! 

I wish I could start decorating on November 1st, but with so much stuff in the house, there's no way. She will start moving on November 13th and I hope to start decorating with a vengeance that weekend!

I have managed to make and freeze 18 dozen Peanut clusters, 10 dozen Cashew clusters, and two Pistachio Bread loaves, so I feel good about that.

Hope you're making progress on having a stress-free Holiday Season!

December Twenty-third - Best Gift

Photos of the best gifts I've ever received!

Gramps, Blizzard, Grammy, Snow

Storm, Thunder, Skye, Summer

Me with my boys

Gabe, Zach, JD, Adam

Dan with the girls

Jessica, Katie, Janel

Jessica, Adam, Snow, Storm

JD, Janel, Blizzard

Gabe, Katie, Sunny, Thunder

Zach, Skye

Dan and me

December Nineteenth - Family Christmas

This past weekend we celebrated our family Christmas. We broke with tradition this year and held it in the morning. I think we found a new tradition. The parents weren't irritated after spending all day with kids who whined about "when do we get to open our presents?". The kids were all rested and excited for the day. We were done by 11 am and everyone could go home to play with their presents.

I knew it was a success when the talk turned to who would bring what next year! haha

We remembered to take a photo in front of our tree!

Singing a chorus of "Jingle Bells" before the fun begins

Thunder was one of Santa's helpers

Storm was a Santa's helper for the first time

Snow getting some help from Gramps opening her stocking

Sunny is a seasoned Santa's helper by now

Sunny and Thunder gave me a flashing Christmas light necklace,

I love it!

Skye's first year to read the Christmas story aloud to us all