Make this Christmas magical

Babybutt

Of course Christmas was going to be magical. It was our very first Christmas with Babybutt. I’m so surprised at how much fun she had opening gifts, playing with boxes, new toys, old toys, bows and paper. We took our leisurely time on Christmas morning. I felt very satisfied. I love how Babybutt could have spent Christmas Eve with one gift… not even a gift, but a box. How she kissed the box because there was a picture of a little girl on the box. I’m so happy that she was comfortable enough to spend time with every one of our family members. Well, everyone except my brother but she flashed him about 20 smiles and was giggling at him at evening’s end. Yeah, it was a good Christmas; a wonderful, magical Christmas.

Daughter A is here today at the house, back at the Bay from her Christmas trip to the Bayou.

I picked her up yesterday with the thought she would be looking after the dog while R and I journey to Las Vegas to visit his family.

But we came in to a distracted and distant R, scrambling with his end of the year business tasks. I felt happy and relaxed, having paid the bills, written up a request to the tax assessor to re-evaluate taxes on our house that has plummeted in market value, received at long last health insurance reimbursements, and contacted the bank for mortgage remediation.

It was weirdly dissonant.

R could not even tell me what his possible Las Vegas plans were, and the elements of his distress were evident in the paper strewn around him at the dining table.

Reading the man is sometimes like reading tea leaves. It looked like Vegas trip was going to be him solo, a last minute flight to be with his daughter on her birthday, leaving me behind. Daughter M much prefers having her dad to herself, and it being her birthday, that more or less makes sense. Of course, with his plans a murky mess, it is unclear whether he will be back by the evening of the 31st, so I cannot make plans.

And meantime, I have the gift of one or two days off with daughter A. We will go to the salon and get our hair and nails done. We’ll go out to dinner somewhere fun. Maybe Pear Street Bistro. Maybe Powder Keg. I don’t know if I’ll go in to work tomorrow – I did take both days off. Maybe I’ll take the luxury of a drive up the coast with A, if she’s of a mind to do that. No one is staying in the Bodega Bay house, oddly, right now. There is a two day hiatus there.

Maybe we’ll drive up Mount Tamalpais, go the Mountain House. Ah, the possibilities! I think she’ll be happy to have an adventure, something like the old days.

It will be the magical flourish at the tail of the Christmas season, and 2009 will begin anew, a new time for all of us.

There are so many things that make my Christmas magical. One year I’ll detail them all…I love the music (played by hubby from August), the lights everywhere we drive, the excitement of the children, shopping (at times), the cold, crisp air, the Christmas stories, the annual argument whilst putting up the tree, watching the children overload one poor branch of the tree, choosing presents, wrapping the first few (until my back starts to break, Christmas Eve at my parents, turkey, sausage meat and all the trimmings, Mum lighting the pudding, waiting hours for the children to be able to sleep, leaving a letter for Santa, family all coming to stay, sending and receiving cards, watching the children opening their pressies, chilling with chocolate and playing with pressies, singing carols and drinking lots of Tia Maria.

The list is endless. This Christmas was made extra special by it being Stinky Pinkleton’s first one, by me being a little more sober than last year, by family making that extra effort and by us starting our own Christmas traditions.

Yes, this Christmas was magical!

It is our first year of mixed rituals. I am liking it.

It may be our last mainland Christmas.

This is the first Christmas I mail ordered in the things that I could not find locally, like the candle pyramid. And the ornaments that came one by one. I am pretty sure I got hit with postage for every separate mailing, but it turns out there is a lot of fun in getting those packages every few days…

This is a pretty weird camera shot of one of them, a really beautiful glass elephant.

Hokeybutt’s Cappuccino

My husband’s Mom would always make coffee with Irish Creme on Christmas morning. And since I don’t drink coffee he bought some (really yummy) cappuccino. He said he wants it to become a tradition with us, something we do every year. And he did. He made it for us our Christmas morning. It was so good he made two cups (and I’m going to ask him for another right now!)

Oh Christmas, high stakes art project….

The magic was all the chum. But there was an air of less than wonder over the day for me.

We were, of course, all sick. But not as horribly sick as last year. Just never ending toxic colds, but it made me tired and less than capable.

There’s was nothing I could put a finger on and say that was why it wasn’t right, just a lot of small roughnesses that added up to less magic for me. The duplication of Santa’s gift by my sil, my other sil showing up an hour late and then needing to take over the kitchen, the head congestion that muted everything except the chum’s popgun, that I got virtually no presents until Bumble’s, the horrible smell of cooking ham….

There were a lot of really wonderful and incredibly magical Christmas moments in the last month – the holiday shows, looking at lights, getting and decorating the tree, and more – but the Christmas day experience wasn’t among the top five.

I think what the last two Christmases have really taught me is that I can’t get too tied to the one day. Last year we were so tragically sick, there was no way it could have been a ‘perfect’ Christmas. And this year it just wasn’t. But that’s OK. There were moments of beauty and magic that made me cry from joy all along the way.

• The chum and I made his presents. The hot chocolate mixes looked great though we ran out of powdered milk part way through but I just attached a not to make with milk. Hopefully will be OK. The spoons were a big hit. So easy to make so we did extras and gave them to the grandparents as well. I love having the chum make gifts for all. It really helps reinforce the message of giving rather than getting.
• Christmas cards did eventually go out. I love our picture of the chum but I;m not sure how to go for next year. I find the photo cards to be not quite what I want – though easy….
• Cookies were made in a scaled back way. But we all got the joy of it. And we still plan to decorate sugar cookies tomorrow – because, why not?
• As noted elsewhere, the Nutcracker was attended. Also we watched the SF version on my Dad’s huge TV on Christmas eve. The chum was enthralled again. Today we bought a Nutcracker ornament for next year.
• Gingerbread house making at the Discovery Museum – a very good way to spend the 23rd. Seasonal, active, and totally out of Daddy’s hair.

The Celebration Continues

We try to continue to celebrate Christmas through New Year’s Day. We just don’t want the fun to end.

Clean House

A clean house is always magical to this Mommy. This morning I got a chance to actually wash the kitchen floor AND vacuum the house. Wow. Hokeybutt promises to clean the bathroom. What more could I ask for?

Due to time and energy constraints, the baking whirl is small this year. The biggest tragedy is the loss of the PB trees.

• Jam Thumbprints (dough made)
• Cinnamon Biscotti x 2 (done)
• Cranberry Biscotti x 2 (done)
• Sugar Rollouts (dough made)
• Spiced Icebox (dough made)
• Rocky Road Bark (done)

Of course, if time allows I’ve got butter, eggs, flour, and sugar enough to do more. But I don’t want to not get well because of cookies.