Tag Archives: Christmas

Sensational Christmas morning

I remember being a kid and waiting not so patiently for Christmas morning. I remember my brother and I trying so hard to stay awake to hear Santa and waking up at 4 am and waiting until our parents would allow us to go downstairs. I couldn’t wait for the presents, to see what exciting things Santa left. Christmas morning was awesome.

Naturally when I had kids I couldn’t wait to relive that moment. I was excited to see the reaction of all their new gifts and toys under the tree. This video is a pretty good representation of every Christmas morning, except the fact that no one is crying this year and it didn’t take 20 minutes of coaxing to get the kids even near their gifts. In fact the kids actually opened their gifts this year, so it is a step in the right direction. I have high hopes for Charlie next year that he will actually be excited on Christmas morning. I only assume Molly will be questioning the existence of Santa by then. This year she already wants to know why Santa built her a chalkboard last year on the wall and this year brought her one on an easel. Santa needs to get his stuff together.

On the bright side, we don’t have kids waking us up at 4:30 AM to collect their bounty.

Posted by Jamie @ SensationalFamily. Categories: Uncategorized. Tags: Christmas, Family Fun, Mollinator, Raising Children, Sensory Processing Disorder, Wild Card Charlie. Leave a comment

Dec. ’13

Embracing Christmas

It’s no secret around here that I’m not a fan of a certain December holiday. I make no attempts to hide the fact that I really dislike Christmas. Somehow long ago I thought it was my duty to make sure everyone had a fantastic holiday and the aftermath just meant that I did not. Then, I had my normal pre-Christmas breakdown but I did something that I don’t usually do, I went over to my schedule at work and I took time off. Not because we had therapy, not for a doctor’s appointment or a school function, but just because I needed some time. Granted it was for the week after Christmas, but I took days off work for me. And it felt good.

Then it snowballed.

I found myself saying I couldn’t go to parties. Not because I had something else to do, but because I didn’t want to.

I found myself accepting the Christmas gifts we could afford and not stressing that it wasn’t enough. The kids have plenty.

I found myself not stressing when certain people didn’t provide ideas for gifts. These people will get what they get. And maybe without a gift receipt to return it.

I found myself making the kids chicken nuggets or sandwiches for dinner because Christmas baking or activities made us late for dinner.

I found myself baking less and accepting the fact that a batch of cookies turned out less than perfect.

I found myself not caring that the kids didn’t sit on Santa’s lap. Neither of them, they were both terrified.

I found myself actually living up to my so-called belief that things don’t have to be perfect.

And it felt good.

I didn’t scream “I HATE CHRISTMAS” this year. Not once. Although I did freak out a little and send my husband a text that read “I JUST WANT TO BAKE F%$&^% COOKIES”, but no one is perfect.

I’m completely prepared for the fact that once again my kids may be afraid of Christmas morning. Or maybe just Molly will. She’ll come around and when she does we will be opening our presents under the tree. Then I hope my family is prepared that I will be drinking wine out of a new wine sippy cup Santa will be leaving in my stocking. After all it’s Christmas and what kind of holiday would it be if there weren’t some day drinking involved.

Posted by Jamie @ SensationalFamily. Categories: Family Fun. Tags: Christmas, family, Family Fun, Holidays, Raising Children. Leave a comment

Dec. ’13

Tales from an un-crafty mom

My artistic abilities are comical. Seriously, Stampy came home from work and was crying from laughter looking at my latest “craft” I attempted with the kids. And like all of my artistic endeavors, he had to ask multiple times for verification that my project was in fact what I said it was.

Tonight it was a Rudolph head made from felt.

It all started because I ordered 17 pounds of felt, so I thought I should do something with it.

Seriously, why did I order so much??

So after I cut out a triangle to make a Christmas tree and about a dozen ornaments, I came up with the brilliant idea to make a Rudolph head and red noses so the kids could play “Pin The Nose On The Reindeer”. Now, I don’t get creative ideas too often so I tend to run with them even when I realize that I have absolutely zero artistic ability to actually carry out the idea. Ignoring that fact I proceeded to make the most satanic goat-deer for my kids to play with. After screaming “monster” and running and hiding, the kids actually played the game for 5 minutes. I consider that a success.

In case you would like to make one yourself (I actually feel like this could be a fun game for kids) I will give you instructions. To start the process, you need brown, red and white felt. I cut out 6 red noses, but that is completely optional. Draw and cut your own animal head. The less it actually looks like a reindeer the better. Then 2 white eyes, I suggest using a marker to give some color to the eyes to tame down the nightmares, but that’s a personal call.

Once that is done, you can hang on a wall and let the kids have at it. I managed to get each child to close their eyes for about 5 seconds while placing the noses on. I couldn’t tell if they just didn’t get the premise of the game or didn’t want to take their eyes off the demon hanging on our all, lest it attack them.

Everyone survived. We will be having a cleansing after the Christmas season to rid our house of evil spirits.

Posted by Jamie @ SensationalFamily. Categories: Family Fun. Tags: Art, Christmas, crafts, Family Fun, Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph. 4 Comments