Holiday Post Mortem

By belle💕beckford on December 31, 2013 • ( 4 Comments )

Happy new year’s eve!!

I look forward to this time of year every year, not just for the joyous celebrations and overeating, but it’s the only time of the year we can all slack off at work, isn’t it? We’re all just barely hanging on until the new year arrives, anyway.

So, how were your holiday celebrations this year? Did Santa give you everything you wanted? Or was it coal again from Krampus?

This year, instead of the regular old afternoon party at a rented country club, our office went all out and booked a dinner cruise (with spouses). The food was great and I danced like there was no tomorrow. I can honestly say, it’s great to be “under new management” as the previous ones would never have consented to us spending the funds on this. Everyone who came had a great time. We do work hard all year, most us more than 60 hours per week, so it feels good to be rewarded like this.

I absolutely enjoy Christmas, but I have had to rein in my spending and just try and make it special for my children. I did go crazy this year and bought small gifts for all the members of my department. I was just in a particularly good mood this year. My significant other is not a big fan of Christmas, but we do the tree and lights and decorate the house for the children.

This year, my children received exactly what they wanted. My daughter doesn’t ask for much, just more additions to her Snap Circuits set. She’s into electronics and Manga art. My son, got 10% of what he asked for. But then his list included, along with the Super Mario Bros Wii game and various other Mario Bros media, 6 geese-a-laying, 5 gold rings, 4 calling birds, etc, etc. He is most certainly my little clown in-training.

These are my children:

My 13 year old daughter

My 7 year old son

My son, the one on the right, almost never has a bad day. He’s definitely a “glass always full” kinda guy. He will create a list of the gifts he wants with perhaps 20 or more items, he’ll get two, and then he’ll be the happiest kid in the world, because this was “the best Christmas EVER!!!!!!” Every year is the best Christmas ever. Every birthday is the best birthday ever… He just saps all my energy….

My daughter is the serious one on the left. She keeps him in check and she doesn’t write long Christmas lists. You ask her what she wants, she comes back to you in a day or so with one item, and that’s it. Shopping done.

The best gift we all got this year was the return of our Canadian family friends to the east coast. The kids (twins) and my daughter were best friends from kindergarten to second grade, but they had relocated to Colorado for 5 years and now they’re back. They visited us for one whole day during the holidays and we all picked up from where we left off like nothing had changed. It was especially great for my daughter because the twins are still the only real friends she’s ever made. Like an embarrassing mom, I kept taking pictures of the three of them in poses from photos that they were in from 5 years ago. They complied, but they know how crazy I can be. Although they’re not living as close to us as we’d like, it’s much easier to visit them now than when they were in Colorado.

So all in all it was a pleasant month.

Later, if the weather holds out, we plan to take the kids downtown to celebrate New Year’s eve. Not staying out all night, mind you, but at least we’ll be out enjoying ourselves for a few hours.

How are you all planning on ringing in 2014?  Times Square? Quiet night in with friends or family? Either way, enjoy!

Categories: Best of 2013, children, Christmas

Tagged as: children, Christmas, Holiday, Krampus, New Year, New Year's Eve, Santa Claus