I will try not to make this post a total downer, but in all honesty, I’m feeling a little beat up by Christmas. I did end up getting sick, so it was a loooooong week leading up to the holiday. We barely left the couch, didn’t breathe any fresh air, took a million naps, slept with the kids, watched TV for four days straight and it’s been really hard to get out of this funk. That being said, we had a really nice Christmas Eve at home, were actually able to celebrate Christmas Day with my family and ended the weekend with one last fun gathering to celebrate with the cousins.

I feel like I’ve spent the past five years trying to find a Christmas Eve tradition, but spending it just the four of us, baking and decorating cookies (highly recommend these Soft Gingerbread Cookies from Tastes Better From Scratch), eating Matzo Ball Soup I picked up from Zaidy’s Deli & Bakery and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas, was pretty perfect. Even if halfway through the movie, Lydi told me “okay, that’s enough, take me up to bed.” 😂

Christmas Day was pretty good too. Lydi was so so excited to see her presents from Santa — she got her “ballerina shoes” 🥹 — and Dempsey, who normally doesn’t react in big ways like his sister, had the sweetest little smile when he saw his car transform into Bumblebee. He said his favorite present was a jar of capers though 😂 He is definitely my son! We had giant pastries from Blackbox Bakery for breakfast and hung out for the rest of the day — we did make it outside for a bit, so Lydi could try out her new helmet, and man did it feel nice out there! I also worked on my sourdough rolls, which had been rising overnight. Final product shown above, but they turned out so good! Another highly recommended recipe: Soft Sourdough Rolls from Hearbeet Kitchen.

Made our way to my parents’ around 3:30, where we ate appetizers, opened stockings, exchanged gifts and ate a really good dinner. My mom got so many cute clothes for the kids and the Lite-Brite from Aunt Bean and Uncle Wayne was such a hit! My mom made Joy the Baker’s Gingerbread Swirl Bundt Cake for dessert and it was amazing 🤤 Lydi just barely made it home with her eyes open, poor girl. But if that’s not an end of Christmas look, I don’t know what is 😋

Friday and Saturday passed by in a blur. We needed to get out of the house while it was being cleaned, so we took the kids to see the Lego exhibit at the museum and made it all of half an hour. I did sneak out for a massage on Friday and a movie on Saturday. We both really liked Marty Supreme! Timmy forever, okay? Grandpa Steve and Lorna hung out with the kids while we were at the movie and then we all had dinner together, which was really nice.

Sunday morning, we got to go over to Grandma Lori and Chaddy’s for our Christmas celebration with them. Their Elves on the Shelves (is that how I should write that if there’s two of them??) had headed back to the North Pole but left 100 Santa hats hidden around the house, so the kids were busy with that for a while, then we all ate breakfast, before digging into the mountain of presents. I think I need a second house to store all of the cool stuff they got, but I’m grateful for all the people who love them so much! Back at home, just the chaos of unpackaging new toys, taking down the Christmas village, making salads and cooking dinner. I got an Instant Pot and cooked some chickpeas in there. I’m excited to use it again tonight! Stuffed shells for dinner but Dempsey literally cried when I asked him to just try A bite 🤷‍♀️😂

Real Talk: Monday has already been a morning of emotions from the kids, who I’m sure are still tired and still recovering, but as the preferred parent (always for Lydi and often for Dempsey), I am feeling so overwhelmed and drained. Having them scream and cry over who got to sit next to me at breakfast has left me feeling a bit incapacitated. If this is you too, I hope you get a moment to yourself today. I sure need one!