Christmas 2018

This Christmas was really nice.  Jim has been able to take the week off between Christmas and New Years for the last few years and this year was no exception.  What a game changer that has been.  Having us all be in vacation mode is just lovely.

This year we decided to host my side of the family on Christmas Eve.  There is always a toggle of who will host, which time, who can come, who can't and honestly, it's hard to accommodate it all.  In the spirit trying something new and hopefully striking up tradition, Jim and I opened our home on Christmas Eve.  Open house.  It turned out wonderfully.  My brother, Jimmy, SIL, Jess, and my two nephews came over in the morning.  My aunt and parents came mid-day.  Our neighbors stopped over in the afternoon, and my brother, Mark, and Melanie came over in the evening. It was a long day and full, but pretty darn wonderful.  I love that my kids got time with thier cousins.  Life happenings and the busy pace of things leaves visits too few and far between (Jess and I plan to rectify that, fingers crossed).

The last part of the night was Christmas jammies and making gingerbread houses, provided by Nana and Grandpap (my parents).  I wasn't sure how June would feel about matching onesie jammies, but to my surprise instead of broody angsty pre-teen, he embraced them and was awesome.

Christmas morning, the kids were allowed to open stockings before Jim and I came downstairs.  Once we were down, Santa opening began.  Most of them got bedding, all got robes, and some games/toys were interspersed as well.

Next, they opened the gifts from Jim and I.  The boys got the gift of all gifts (they can thank my "you only live once husband") and will be going to a 21 Pilots concert in June!

Once we had some playtime and traditionally cinnamon roll breakfast, we headed to noon Mass and then off to see Jim's family.  My favorite part about seeing Jim's side of the family is seeing the Godparents give the God kids their gifts.  My girls especially have a very cool bond with each of their three Godmothers and it's awesome.  We exchanged our Secret Santa gifts among the adults and headed over to Jim's Grandma's house to see the extended family.  The buzz of Kelly family Christmas is like non-other.  I truly have the best in-law side imaginable.

The day after Christmas was for my extended family.  We trucked out to NJ to visit with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin who was visiting from Florida!

To say that we had a "good" Christmas doesn't do it justice.  It wasn't a "better than you," "over the top," or "absolutely perfect" Christmas but it was amazing to be in good health, happy attitudes, and get to catch up with so much of our family.  We are blessed for sure.

The remainder of Christmas week was all about going slow and being together.  We didn't plan anything.  We didn't have an agenda or schedule.  We just "were."  There are memes about not knowing what day or time it is between Christmas and New Years and our time together was exactly that.

There was lots of toy and gadget playing.  Elizabeth and I watched and finished the first season of Zumbo's Just Desserts.  We are both currently obsessed with baking shows.  Jim played 2 gigs but got to sleep in and recover adequately after.  And life just kinda happened.  It's been really nice.

Tomorrow is New Years Eve and it makes me reflect back on 2018.  Maybe I will write a post about 2018, but to sum it up, I'm so thankful for my family.  Raising five kids is messy and loud.  It's busy and hair pulling at times.  You are pulled in many directions and have many plates spinning at once, but 2018 has cemented the realization that there is nothing I would rather do.  My 5 are amazing.  It doesn't feel like too much or too many.  It doesn't feel too hard.  It feels right and I'm thankful for each of them, even though it's not an easy path to raise 5 and I think this Christmas week was exactly what we needed as a family... just time together, unscheduled, unscripted, unhurried: just time.