Christmas 2009

Christmas was nice. Low key. Being that it was a chemo week (albeit the last one!) Michael hasn't been feeling great the last couple of days. He was asleep early on Christmas Eve while I drank eggnog and rum and cried watching It's a Wonderful Life. After the kids were all asleep, I hauled all the gifts upstairs from the basement and then went to bed. I woke up in the wee hours of the morning in a panic, realizing I forgot to: (a) ditch the Elf who was supposed to fly back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve, and (b) leave telltale cookie crumbs and milk residue in a glass courtesy of Santa. So I rushed through the house remedying those oversights and went back to bed. The kids were up bright and early, so excited to see that Santa had, in fact, decided to overlook all their transgressions that Mommy kept calling him on the phone about.

We resolved to downsize the mountain of gifts Santa usually leaves under the tree, and discovered that the kids were perfectly happy with three or four gifts each. Everyone seemed happy with their gifts. Michael got me a new video camera - who knew that the latest ones are small enough to fit in a purse? It was a nice surprise; I'm not the easiest person to buy for, as I generally don't have many wants and have a hard time coming up with ideas for things I'd like. I got Michael a mandolin and a new set of pots and pans (he's really gotten into cooking lately). The funny thing is, seven years ago I got him a video camera for Christmas (which is now outdated, apparently) and he got me a new set of pots and pans.

Anyway, after the gift opening extravaganza, we did our traditional big Christmas breakfast. The kids spent the day playing with their new things and we had an early dinner of filet mignon (ala Michael) and cheese fondue (ala moi), followed by chocolate fondue for dessert.

Next year I really want to do Christmas differently - better. I admit that I generally have a hard time getting into the spirit of things, but I'm sure it was made more difficult this year by everything Michael and we have been dealing with. Now that the holiday is over, I feel both relieved and guilty. This is my kids' one shot at childhood, and I feel like I need to do a better job at making the holidays special for them. I didn't even hang their stockings up this year! Not that that's the end of the world, but I know I cut corners all over the place just to get through it.

Next year, I resolve to get all my Christmas shopping done much earlier than I did this year. And get everything wrapped earlier. Decorate the house up. Get the work part of it out of the way as early as possible so we can actually enjoy the season. Get out and see sights and be among people and enjoy, you know?