Holiday Post-mortem

I sat down at my computer to type this morning and found myself faced with a mental void.  Gone were the to-do lists, recipes, presents, Christmas tunes and the thousand other thoughts that could be categorized under “Christmas 2009”.  Like childbirth, all of the pain and effort that goes into creating the perfect holiday fade away and you’re left with rosy memories and a stretch mark or two.

So here, in no particular order, are a few of my favorite things about our family’s holiday celebration this year:

Our Teacher Presents:  Every year we debate the best way to show our appreciation for the people who put up with our kids more hours a day than we do.  This year the Monkey and I decided to make “Healthy Teacher Kits”: tissues, chap stick, hand sanitizer, vitamin C drops and tea, neatly packaged in a holiday tin.  This will either leave our educators with the idea that we are ‘a creative and thoughtful family’, or the ‘cheap a-holes who bought Purel’.  

White Trash:  This is a tasty sweet/savory mixture  of melted white chocolate, chex mix and m&ms that we made for family and friends. It suffers from a name that we secretly find hilarious, but question when neighbors drop by to bring exquisite hand-made caramels and the Ladybug runs through the house yelling “We made you White Trash!”

The Leg Lamp:  This is a new addition to our Christmas Celebration.  Perhaps you remember the infamous leg lamp from the movie “A Christmas Story”? No, I would not go so far as to have a life-size replica. But, I squealed with delight with the package from my brother and sister-in-law that contained a 10” votive holder version.  It is sitting proudly on my kitchen table, where it will be every Christmas morning until they pry it out of my cold dead hands.

Gifts from my Kids:  Who else would give me a hand-made coupon book for things like dog poop scooping and a handful of left-over Halloween candy?

We have the more traditional favorites as well – Christmas Eve Breakfast with our best friends, the annual reading of the Night Before Christmas, new Christmas Eve pjs – all of which create this silly and sweet picture that I hope will stay with our children for the rest of their lives.

I hope this Christmas left you with memories to cherish.  Now, let’s enjoy the quiet and think about the next 364 until we have to do it all over again.