It was a quiet Christmas at home. This past year, whenever we mention travelling for Christmas, the ten year old says, “No, no, no! I want to be home for Christmas!” She has this whole plan of how Christmas should go:
1) Wake Up.
2) Wait for mom and dad to wake up.
3) Stockings.
4) Cinnamon Buns
5) Presents
6) Play with presents, and laze around the house.
7) Eat Dinner.
8) Watch Meet Me in St. Louis and dessert.
That was more or less what we did.
I was up until about 3am on Christmas eve (I guess technically Christmas Day) prepping dinner. I marinated the lamb leg, chopped all the vegetables, made the batter for the sticky toffee pudding, made the dough for the cinnamon rolls and sweet rolls. I like to make the yeasted things the night before and then put them in the sunroom to rise overnight – it’s cold enough in there that the dough can do a slow rise. Also wrapping presents, and filling the stockings. I was so afraid that the kids would wake up while I was still working in the kitchen and they would ask me if I had seen Santa since the presents were all under the tree and the Husband had eaten Santa’s cookies before he went to bed. Luckily, no one woke up.
Anyhow, because I was up so late the night before, I slept in til about 8am the next morning. The kids were really great about not waking us up when they got up, but I could definitely hear their footsteps and whispers. When I finally did get up, I went downstairs and popped the cinnamon buns in the oven. Then we got down to the business of stockings and presents. I like to go around opening one present at a time, and savoring the opening and the looks of surprise and everyone getting to see what was gifted. I think this usually lasts for about three rounds and then it disintegrates into a frenzy of paper, boxes, and exclamations.
The Husband he said he chose presents for me because he wanted to support my hobbies – In one box I got a variety of safety lights to use while running. Like four or five different kinds. He said he didn’t know what I would like so he just bought a variety. That’s kind of his modus operandi – give Wife lots of options. He also got me some cooking utensils specifically for camping – which I appreciated because I have been just taking things from the kitchen on our camping trip, and then leaving them in the camp box when I get home, and forgetting that I took them, and then spending months afterwards wondering where the grill tongs were. Now I have lightweight tongs just for camping. Also two different kinds of running socks – he actually went to a running store and talked to someone, which is, I think, the real present for me. And then some magnetic cable managers because the kids had gotten into my previous set and pulled the magnets out of them and it made me so mad. This is actually another standard gifting strategy of the Husband’s. Find what makes Wife mad, and fix it. And I guess the biggest present is he got me a National Parks Pass. I’m really excited to use it – I guess I should start planning some ideas! I’ve been told I need to use it four or five times to make it worth it… so challenge accepted!
The kids handed me this Shoe box:
And inside:
Which is hilarious because all week I’ve been seeing them put things in this shoe box and I figured it was just them playing. But they were collecting a present for me. I don’t know if it’s visible, but there is a half eaten peanut butter pretzel in there. The whole thing made me laugh really hard.
After presents, there was lazing around playing with new toys, and reading of new books. Much sugar and carbs were consumed. We FaceTimed with my parents. We had meant to video chat with the Husband’s sister, but she was in England so the timing didn’t work out. I did some packing for our overnight the next day. The Husband and the two littles and I did squeeze in a walk early in the afternoon, which was lovely since the weather was so mild.
The ten year old did not come with us for our walk, as getting out of her pjs is not part of her perfect Christmas plan. I love this picture because it shows her enjoying three of her presents at once, (well, four if you count the pjs): 1) Books, which I had the person at the local bookstore help me choose – something for a ten year old who likes books with “just kissing”, I said, 2) these funny hats my cousin sent from Taiwan – she had a friend bring them back to the US and mail them to us. The hats have ears that flop when you squeeze the long tails, and 3) travel pillow – all the kids got travel pillows in anticipation of our Spring Break Trip.
After our walk, we came home and I made dinner while the Husband and kids watched Elf. I had never made a whole roast lamb leg before, so that was exciting. It turned out really well, and was surprisingly easy. I’ve decided that meat is pretty easy – season/marinade, stick it in oven. Wait. Pull it out when it’s the right temperature. Any success I have with roasting meat I credit to the Thermapen. When we bought it I thought it was a lot of money to spend on a cooking thermometer, but it’s amazing – accurate, fast and easy to use. It’s my secret weapon for never overcooking meat.
Christmas Dinner: Roast Lamb Leg, pan fried broccoli, sweet rolls, scalloped potatoes, butternut squash salad (not the best), and rainbow Jello (aka Salad to my Midwestern Husband). The ten year old made the Jello, and she might not have stirred it all the way til the powder dissolved, which is why it kind of looks like a tsunami. But I figure she will make it at least twice a year (Thanksgiving and Christmas) so she’ll eventually get the hang of it. I love the rainbow Jello more than I let on, though I refuse to call it salad. This Christmas, I was really excited to find blue and purple Jello at the store so we could really have all the rainbow colours in it.
After dinner, we cleaned up, and I made the sauce of the sticky toffee pudding and we went downstairs and watched Meet Me in St. Louis and ate dessert. Which I might have slept through. As I do every year. Probably I’ve seen the whole move by this point, just not all at once. I think staying up late Christmas Eve just makes me ready to crash after Christmas dinner. Everyone else really loves this movie, though – they like to sing, “Meet me in St. Louis, Louis!” while skipping around.
Then it was promptly to bed since we were getting up early and going on a mini road trip the next morning. All in all a lovely quiet day with just the five of us.
Random Notes/Thoughts:
One thing we usually do that we skipped this year was is set up the computer in the dining room so we could track Santa on the NORAD website. We’ve done this the past two years, but this year we went to Christmas Eve service and it felt like we didn’t have time to set up the computer when we got home. I kind of missed doing that. Oh well, next year. (I should put this on my Christmas spreadsheet now!)
Winning presents. I think all the presents were big hits, but there were some stand outs:
– Speak and Spell. The Husband ordered this for the five year old, but all the kids really loved playing with it. I remember my friend had one when we were growing up, but I hadn’t thought about it until the Husband mentioned that he had bought it. The kids loved it. I realized that this is the kind of toy that is probably now replaced by an app on a personal device, so it was kind of nice that they had an analog version to play with. (Interestingly, because the five year old is in a French immersion program, we are told not to teach him how to spell as French letters and sounds are different from English ones. So I was on the fence about whether or not I should let him play with the Speak and Spell. But then I told myself to get over myself and stop overthinking things.)
– Fashion sketchpad for the 10 year old. I’m trying to really lean into the 10 year old’s interests, and lately she has been sketching a lot of dresses. This sketchpad is cool because at the front there are pictures of different styles of sleeves, necklines, skirts, pants, etc. And on the pages are predrawn bodies that you can draw clothes onto. And then, if you photocopy or scan the images, the pre-drawn bodies don’t show up, just what you’ve drawn. I did have a moment where I wondered if I really liked getting the ten year old something that had a limited palette of body types, but then I told myself, again, to stop overthinking things.
–Succulent Subscription (3 months) for the Husband. I saw this on the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog and when the ten year old said she wanted to get the Husband plants for his office, this seemed perfect. Every month he will recieve three succuents in the mail. I had hoped the first shipment would arrive in time for Christmas, but they didn’t so I just printed out a certificate for him.
– Mini packs of Cereal. This was the stocking stuffer win. I got each person a different mini pack of that sugary cereal that we only buy for birthday week – Froot Loops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Apple Jacks. The baby did not understand that her cereal was the one in her stocking and proceeded to open and eat all the cereal.
Oddest gift – The Husband gave the three year old a box of weather stripping. I don’t know what was up with that. I think he had ordered it on Amazon and then realized that she had the least number of presents so wrapped the box. He does like to give “house” presents, which I think is funny and sweet. Of course the three year old didn’t care – she just liked ripping wrapping paper off boxes.
An excerpt from my journal entry from Christmas 2021, an interesting snapshot:
“Good things: Sleeping Queens, Ansel’s Hat, Lawn Mower” [These are presents that we still use/play with, though the plastic bubble blowing lawn mower is falling a part a little]
“Sticky Toffee Pudding. Cornish Game hens. Fine once I cooked them enough.” [And shortly after we bought the Therma pen]
“Buns not rising in time for dinner” [This was actually quite tragic for me, which is why I made the buns early this year]
“Sixty degree weather” [Same as this year]
“Saying Hello to Elsa” [Our neighbor. This year, I sent the kids over with some Asian Pears and cookies – the gift of choice from my Taiwanese soul.]
I love seeing how things stay the same – it makes it feel like we are finding our Christmas family rhythm. For now.