Strocel.com | Christmas

Mission: Mall Santa

Amber on December 11, 2010 29 Comments

Last week I told you about a Mall Santa fail that resulted in a Christmas epiphany. To recap, my daughter Hannah really wanted to see Santa. She is 5, and she adores Santa. And who can blame her? I was pretty gung-ho about Santa when I was 5.

We made it to the mall when Santa Land opened. It was a weekday morning, and I didn’t expect it to be that busy, but it was. After waiting for about 30 minutes and going nowhere, it was clear that we wouldn’t be able to squeeze in our visit and photo before we had to get Hannah to afternoon kindergarten. And then Hannah cried, and I cried, and I realized that I needed to take control of Christmas instead of letting it take control of me.

At this point, I had to decide if I would re-attempt the Santa visit, or take it as a sign. Hannah was pro-re-attempt, but I wasn’t so sure about her brother Jacob. Last year he flatly refused to sit on Santa’s lap without me. I got into the photo just to avoid a total meltdown. It’s been a year, but 2-year-olds are highly unpredictable. It’s anyone’s guess how they’ll react when they find themselves placed on Santa’s lap.

Christmas, 2009 – Santa commented on how much I’d grown

I decided to attempt the return Santa visit, because I knew it was really important to Hannah. Once again, I got dressed up myself, so that I’d be ready if Jacob freaked out. This time, there were only a few people in line in front of us. However, it shortly became clear why – Santa was on his break. He had to feed the reindeer, or something. Luckily, the good people at the mall had provided TVs for the kids, so we all watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and waited.

Santa arrived 25 minutes after we did, and things got moving. Unfortunately, at this point, we moved out of view of the TV. This is when Jacob stopped waiting so patiently. He wanted out of his stroller. I took him out. He wanted to run away through the mall. I put him back in. I pointed out things to look at. He pointed out displays he wanted to disassemble piece by piece. We sang some head and shoulders, and looked for Thumbkin. It was only about 10 minutes before we were past the rope dividing us from Santa Land, but it was a long 10 minutes.

Once we were past the rope, we still had to wait for the family in front of us to finish up. I took Jacob out of the stroller, and he tried to rush Santa. I held him back, and he kicked and screamed and flailed. I thought to myself, “It’s a good thing photos don’t have sound.” I wondered what would happen when we made it to Santa, given how Jacob was melting down in the waiting area. But we had come this far, and I would at least give Hannah a chance to see Santa.

Once it was our turn, Hannah jumped on Santa’s lap, and Jacob stopped crying and followed without hestitaion. The photographer snapped several photos. She commented to me that listening to Jacob, she wasn’t sure how he’d do. But he was in his element. For 2 whole minutes he sat on Santa’s lap and I could see him talking to Santa. He had his “I’m thrilled but you can’t tell” face on. And when I showed him the photo, he held it and whispered, “Santa. Jacob. Santa.”

Christmas, 2010 – Our hard-won Santa photo

I know that Jolly Old St. Nick has become a somewhat controversial figure. And spending 40 minutes waiting to pay for a bunch of expensive photos of my kids with him isn’t really my idea of a good time. But for me, this year, the magic was worth it. I’m pretty sure Jacob would agree.

Do you do the Mall Santa? Why or why not? And have you experienced any 2-year-old meltdowns in Santa Land of your own? Tell me all about it!

Tagged With: Christmas, Kids

Wanted: One Super Secret Hiding Place

Amber on December 10, 2010 28 Comments

I have a problem with Christmas gifts.

I don’t mean that I dislike Christmas gifts. Quite the contrary, I adore Christmas gifts. Gifts are lovely. I like to give them and I like to receive them. My problem with Christmas gifts stems from the fact that I have no idea where to hide them before I gift them.

This was not an issue before I had kids. I could put a big box labeled “Jon’s Christmas Gifts” in the middle of the living room, and my husband wouldn’t peek in it. He’s patient and he likes surprises. He can keep his curiousity in check and wait until the big day. Much more so than I can, for sure. Back when it was just him I put gifts in my bedside table, and then a couple weeks before Christmas I wrapped them and put them under the tree. No sweat.

Top secret gift hiding place

When my firstborn Hannah was a baby she figured out how to open my bedside table and loved going through it, so I had to switch things up a little. I moved the gifts into our vanity, and that worked. She was little, she wasn’t that crafty. Plus, she didn’t really understand Christmas for at least a couple of years, so it wouldn’t have occurred to her that there were gifts to search for.

Slightly more top secret gift hiding place

By Hannah’s third Christmas, she was wise to the whole deal. I needed a new hiding spot. Enter my closet. There’s a shelf that’s about four feet off the ground, which is obscured by Jon’s shirts. Hannah couldn’t see that high, and it was mostly blocked, so we were good. That lasted for a couple of years. Unfortunately, though, I left some felt that came with a gift order on the shelf, and Hannah saw me retrieving it, so she now goes there to get felt and I can’t hide gifts there anymore.

This hiding place was good while it lasted

This leaves me with a conundrum. This year, I have been accumulating Christmas gifts in my trunk. However, it’s not a good solution. Hannah sometimes likes to help me unload groceries and that sort of thing, so as long as the gifts are there I have to be really on the ball to keep her from seeing them. Plus, one of the gifts for Hannah requires assembly, and I imagine it will take more than a few minutes. I need to get it inside and out of its box to work on it. But where will I put them?

Christmas gifts accumulating in my trunk

I tried hiding Jacob’s birthday gift in the garage, but that didn’t work, since the kids are regularly in the garage when they get in and out of my car. The best hiding spot is probably someplace up high, but as I am all of 5’2″ tall I can’t really reach that high myself. I don’t want the spot I choose to be inaccessible to me, too. I already have to rely on Jon to fetch me dishes, I can’t very well ask him to fetch his Christmas presents.

The top of the linen closet would work, if I could reach that high

So, for now, I remain on the hunt for a good spot. I hope I come up with one, soon. I’m starting to run out of room for other stuff in my trunk.

Tell me, do you have a super-secret gift hiding place? What do you think makes for a good hiding spot? And have you had to change yours as your kids get older? I’d love to hear all about it!

Tagged With: Christmas, Navel Gazing

Simple and Special

Amber on December 3, 2010 34 Comments

I am totally stealing the concept for this post from Wendy at Give Love Create Happiness. So here I am, giving credit where credit is due. Thanks, Wendy!

Now, on to my post. I’m going to start with a story. On Tuesday, November 30 I decided to take my kids to the mall for their annual photo with Santa. I wore nice clothes, and even some lipstick, because I realized there was a good chance my 2-year-old wouldn’t sit on Santa’s lap without me. I managed to get the children out the door on time, so that we could be there as soon as Santa opened at 11am. It was a weekday morning, I didn’t anticipate a crowd. I was wrong.

By the time we got there, the line was already wrapped around Santa’s workshop. Then, to compound things, Santa was late. In front of us, other parents struggled with their own 2-year-olds and people agonized over photo choices. After about 30 minutes in the line-up with my two kids, and eight families still lined up in front of us, it was fast becoming apparent that we wouldn’t be seeing Santa soon. This would have been OK, except that my 5-year-old Hannah attends afternoon kindergarten, and we had less than an hour to go at that point. We still needed to get home, get changed, eat lunch and get packed for school.

I broke the news to the kids that we would have to come back and see Santa another day. They were very upset. Hannah started crying and begging, “Please! We love Santa! We want to see Santa!” I was able to explain to her what the problem was, and she mostly understood, but she was still very disappointed. I understood, because I was pretty disappointed, too. It’s disappointing when your plans fall through.

In the car, I broke down crying. I started thinking about what a hassle Christmas is. We still had weeks to go, I hadn’t even started shopping, and already it was one huge pain in the rear. I was overwhelmed, especially because all of the holiday hoopla stands in direct opposition to my values. I don’t like participating in mass consumerism. I don’t like the pressure to spend, the hours spent agonizing over gift choices, and the garbage bags stuffed full of gift wrap and and plastic packaging and styrofoam padding. It’s a lot of waste for a lot of presents that nobody even really wants. We’re sapping all of the joy from the holidays, and we’re hurting the planet in the process.

As I sobbed over everything that’s wrong with Christmas, I came to a realization. I am in charge of my own life. I can decide to do things differently. I can simplify, and in the process I can make the holidays more enjoyable for everyone. I’m pretty sure my family prefers to live with a mom who is not on her last nerve for the whole month of December. By scaling back and making things easier on myself, I’m also helping everyone else have more fun, too. When I think back to my own childhood Christmases, it’s the time with my family that stands out, not the picture-perfect-ness of the holiday.

How am I scaling back? Here are a few ways:

My husband’s family has decided to do a gift exchange for the adults this year. Each one of us buys for one other person, and there’s a price limit. Much less shopping, much less expense, much less agonizing.
I’ve decided that instead of agonizing over hard-to-buy-for people on my list, I’m donating to charity in their name. There are people who can accomplish much more good with $50 than a Starbucks gift card could ever hope for.
I’m scaling back on my holiday crafting. Handmade gifts are lovely. I plan to make some. But I don’t plan to be at my sewing machine at 11:15pm on Christmas Eve, like I was last year.
I’m maintaining the commitment I made a couple of years ago not to buy new gift wrap. I have lots of gift bags that I’ve acquired, and what isn’t covered by that can surely be covered in some way or another without cutting down more trees.
I’m scaling back on gifts for my kids. They will each receive one reasonably-sized gift from their parents and one gift from Santa. They will also get presents in their stockings, and few small items to share. They have more toys than they could ever play with already, there’s no need to go overboard and add a whole lot more to their collection.

I am working hard to make the holidays this year simple and special. I hope that, in the process, I’ll also reduce my environmental impact and increase my own happiness. Because I deserve to enjoy Christmas, too.

How do you keep the holidays manageable? What have you done to scale back, if anything? And what is the thing you remember most from Christmas as a kid? Please share!

I wrote this post for the December Green Moms Carnival, hosted this month by the fabulous Jenn over at The Green Parent. Head on over there on Monday, December 6 for more ideas on celebrating the holidays without the hoopla.

Tagged With: Christmas, Enviro-Mama, Navel Gazing, Parenting

Ho-Ho-Holdout

Amber on November 24, 2010 18 Comments

Did you know it’s officially the Christmas season? If not, you clearly haven’t visited a grocery store, shopping mall, drug store, dentist or gas station in the last two weeks. And you haven’t been to Costco since mid-July, where they take the whole “Christmas in July” thing just a little too literally. You probably also haven’t collected your mail and perused all of the holiday-themed flyers, or turned on the TV or radio, where the jolly advertising is in full swing.

I love Christmas. Really. It’s my favourite holiday, hands-down. The lights, the music, the food, the message of goodwill, these all speak to my soul. The idea that in the dark of winter, the light of the world is born – it’s truly beautiful and stirring. I do the whole Christmas thing – the tree, the lights, the music, the meal, Santa Claus and carrots for the reindeer and the church pageant. Thinking about it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

This is what the ground looks like right now

Much as I love Christmas, I’m not diving in just yet. I have ordered a few gifts from the US, because it can take 3-4 weeks for those to arrive on my doorstep. But I haven’t done any other Christmas shopping. Our lights are not up. Our tree is still in its box in the crawlspace, where it will stay for at least 3 more weeks. I am not getting festive with it. I am still very much in an autumn state of mind.

The trees are golden, not evergreen

As I was walking Hannah home from kindergarten today, it certainly felt like winter. An arctic front has blown into town and we all bundled up against the cold wind, which stung our cheeks on the walk. But underfoot, the dry leaves crunched. Hannah kicked at them and threw a few in the air. I could smell them – a smell that evokes nothing but autumn. The sounds, the sights, the calendar all still solidly point to autumn. Especially here in Canada, where we tucked into our Thanksgiving feast some six weeks ago.

A misty autumn day on Skeeter Farm just over a week ago

I’ve decided to hold on to my autumn frame of mind. In the past I’ve gone overboard with Christmas. I took on lots of sewing and knitting and holiday baking. I agreed to things in the middle of November, when there was plenty of time left and the world was my oyster. I regretted that come December 22, when I was staying up late to get it all finished. Starting early may help beat the rush, but it also leads me to take on too much because I’m just so very impressed with myself for being on top of everything.

Christmas will come in its time, and I will welcome it gradually. Decorating will happen when it happens, and probably not all at once. I’ll put things up as the mood strikes. I’ll bake some cookies if I feel like it, and I won’t if I don’t. I’ll try to create some hand-made Christmas gifts, but I’m not setting big goals or sweating deadlines. I’ll go shopping in the crowds and take my time, and I’ll be OK with that. Because today, I’m still crunching the leaves under my feet and smiling at the sunny, cold autumn day.

Are you a holiday keener? Have you already put up your lights and your tree, and addressed and stamped your cards? Or are you a fellow holdout? Tell me all about it in the comments.

Tagged With: Christmas, Navel Gazing, Seasons

Homemade Holiday Show and Tell

Amber on December 29, 2009 22 Comments

Back in November I shared my grand plans for a handmade Christmas. Sadly, for quite some time I remained in the planning stage, not doing much more than telling myself how fabulous it would all be and believing that I had plenty of time left. Finally, a week before Christmas I could no longer deny the advancing date, and I got to crafting. The verdict? In spite of my late start, I still accomplished a fair bit.

4-year-old Hannah and I worked together to make some embroidered pillows.

I sewed some aprons for the ladies, too.

And I did a little bit of knitting (I confess, this is the one thing I started well enough in advance, I just don’t knit that quickly).

But the piece that I am most proud of, and the thing that I was up late finishing on Christmas Eve, is the puppet theatre that I made for the children. I got the pattern from Amy Karol‘s Bend the Rules Sewing, and I love it. It hangs in the doorway on a tension rod, and then packs up in a pouch for easy storage. It’s really, really fabulous, and thankfully my kids love it just as much as I do.

Once I threw in some jam and jelly that I made in the summer, I was pretty happy with how my crafting turned out. Although starting earlier just might have worked to my advantage. I don’t know for sure, but I have my suspicions.

How about you? How did your holiday crafting go? Do share!

Tagged With: Christmas, Crafts, Knitting, Sewing

A Christmas Wish

Amber on December 25, 2009 2 Comments

I hope that you are all safe and warm and happy today. I am spending this Christmas with just my husband and kids, cozy at home. And I will be grooving to my favourite Christmas song, sung by none other than the fabulous Kermit the Frog. Because if you believe in love, that really will be more than enough. Peace on earth, and good will towards all.

Tagged With: Christmas

Crafting my Christmas

Amber on December 24, 2009 8 Comments

It’s Thursday, and I’m Crafting my Life! Or, more specifically, I’m Crafting my Christmas, since today is Christmas Eve and all. So grab some hot chocolate, turn up the Bing Crosby, and join me.

I am not very good at Christmas, I’ll put it right out there. I make far too many promises, to myself and to others. I am currently in a last minute sewing frenzy, and I haven’t done any of the baking I swore I would do. I just love the idea of a holiday that involves handmade ornaments and lots of special moments with the kids. The problem, of course, is that what is supposed to be a happy moment turns into two children hopped up on sugar, a kitchen that is so sticky the cat is affixed to the floor, and me crying because I just wanted to make memories. The reality of life can’t possibly live up to the picture in my head.

I pay a lot of lip service to how I’m cutting back and not doing so much, but when push comes to shove I try to do all of it. All of it. I’m dragging the kids to Christmas pageants and holiday shows and ornament making classes. I re-decorate the tree twice a day, even as my kids un-decorate it. I host parties and dinners and make sure my kids see Santa in every possible venue available to them. And I give myself a massive guilt trip because, yet again, I didn’t manage to get the Christmas cards written up this year. It’s crazy-making.

Why do I do this? Why do I allow my life to become a whirling dervish of holiday festivities? It’s a good question. My best answer is that I am a pleaser. I want to be good and do the good thing, and that means a whole heaping plate full of sugar cookies and mild insanity.

It’s not all bad, the maelstrom of holiday cheer. Hannah is almost 5 years old, and she is at the height of magical thinking. She believes in Christmas and Santa and angels and fairies and the power of wishes. She is enchanted by lights and decorations and holiday treats. That enthusiasm just spills over the rest of us until we are sort of enchanted, too. This year the holidays are not really about me at all, and that makes it a little easier. Because no matter what I’m doing, I know that at least one person will appreciate it ardently. She will remember these days as the magical Christmases of her childhood, and forget about the sticky floors.

Perhaps next year I will get better at setting boundaries for myself. Perhaps next year I will not find myself trying frantically to sew the last Christmas gift an hour before the guests arrive. Perhaps next year I will get the cards in the mail, or even remember to buy cards at all. It could happen. But for this year I’m making the best of the table I’ve set for myself. It’s not even all that bad here, if you can pause long enough to enjoy it.

How do you create a holiday you can live with? What have you let go? Or, are you joining me in the late-night scramble and insanity? I would love to know!

Tagged With: Christmas, Crafting my Life

The Great Gingerbread Caper

Amber on December 23, 2009 17 Comments

For the past four Christmases my mother and I have attempted to make gingerbread houses with my daughter Hannah. It’s become our own little holiday tradition, in spite of our limited abilities. In 2006 the gingerbread didn’t hold together, and we ended up making a gingerbread camping tableau, with a few tents and picnic benches, because no house was coming from the crumbled pieces. In 2007 we purchased gingerbread, and it went more or less OK, but it felt kind of like a cheat. In 2008 my mother baked the gingerbread and we made a passable house, and were feeling some modest success. Maybe, just maybe, the gingerbread tide had turned.

The 2008 gingerbread masterpiece

Buoyed by our success, we had high hopes for 2009. This would be a pinnacle year for us in gingerbread house construction. Oh, the house we would build! And things did look good, for a while. The gingerbread held together, and the icing was good. The jujubes were jujubey and the candy canes were pepperminty.

Hannah working on the 2009 house

But then my mother tempted fate. She looked at our house and said, “I think this is the best one we’ve made yet!” I was alarmed. Surely this sort of confidence could only bring gingerbread disaster. That’s when I noticed the house had a bit of a list. And the list was growing by the second. My mother lept into action and tried to stabilize our construction job.

My mother fights to salvage the house

Sadly, it was all for naught. I think maybe we put too much candy on the roof or something. It doesn’t really matter, though, because the end result is the same – a gingerbread shambles.

The collapsed house

The truth is that the house wouldn’t have stood for long, anyway. Because you don’t make gingerbread houses simply for the glory, you build them because they are yummy. And a collapsed house tastes just as good as a non-collapsed one. Plus, it saves you the guilt that comes from ruining your perfect creation.

Close-up of the wreckage

How about you, do you have any gingerbread construction tips or tricks? I could clearly use them.

Tagged With: Christmas

Party House

Amber on December 14, 2009 11 Comments

We held a party at our house last Saturday. It was a gathering of families, getting together to share some holiday cheer. I counted, and in total there were 19 adults, and 16 children aged 6 and younger. It was a lot of people in our 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath suburban castle, but it was fun. The kids were actually surprisingly quiet, and no lasting injuries occurred. I would call it a resounding success, really.

Here are some scenes from the evening.

Hannah in her party dress, doing some decorating

Folding chairs, all ready to go

Decimated buffet

Empty glasses

One young partygoer takes a reading break

Coats, shoes, hats and bags

Little people playing at their parents’ feet

Jacob drinks some water from a very fancy glass

Playing in the empty tub

Sliding down the stairway

The best part of the evening? Everyone had said their good-byes by 9pm. We all had tired little ones to think of, after all. I’ll admit, I think that I prefer these earlier evenings to the the much later nights of my youth. Plus, there was none of the stress of dealing with the whole meat market scene. We all knew who we were going home with, because their car seats were in our cars.

What about you? Do you have any family parties on the calendar this holiday season, or do you prefer to stay home and have a cozy celebration to yourselves? Or would you rather ditch the kids and have a fancy night on the town? I’ll admit, I sort of relish the idea of going to parties that require nice shoes again.

PS – I have advanced to the second round of the Canadian Blog Awards! From now until December 19 you can vote every day. Look for Strocel.com in the Family and Blog Post Series categories.

Tagged With: Christmas, Parties

Wherefore Art Thou, Christmas Tree?

Amber on December 12, 2009 20 Comments

On my daughter Hannah’s first Christmas in 2005 she was 10 months old. She wasn’t walking yet, but she was crawling and pulling up on things and generally menacing the cat. That year we left our tree up for a total of 72 hours. It was just long enough to take a few photos and do Christmas morning, but not long enough to completely destroy the tree and everything we put on it.

On Jacob’s first Christmas last year he was 4 months old. He was small and portable, and enjoyed being passed amongst family members as we celebrated. Hannah and I decorated the tree while Jon held the sleeping baby. It was lovely and idyllic and we were all quite satisfied with the celebration. This year, though, Jacob is 16 months old, and Holy Toddler, Batman! He climbs, he points, he cries, he systematically hides and deliberately destroys.

Trees from 2003 and 2005

This leaves us with a conflict. I have an almost 5-year-old who really wishes the tree had been put up sometime in October. She cannot wait for the decorating and celebrating to start. But me? I am dragging my feet something fierce. I have decided that I have about 2 weeks of dealing with the toddler and tree combo in me. Any more than that, and I’m not sure I will be the sort of mother I would like to be anymore. And so our (fake) tree remains in a box under our house, along with all of our other holiday gear.

Trees from 2006 and 2007

Someone suggested that we put the tree in the playpen, but our playpen is on loan. Plus, playpens are much smaller than they used to be. I don’t see how any respectable tree could fit inside one. And I would rather not shell out for a tree-containment system for just this year. So every morning I yet again tell Hannah that no, we won’t be decorating the tree today. And when she asks why, I ask her what she thinks, and she can now recite the litany. “Jacob would destroy it. He would throw everything everywhere, so we have to wait.” Poor kid, held back from dreams of Christmas glory by her little brother.

A more idyllic holiday scene, from 2008

What about you? How did you deal with the toddler and tree combo? I am sure that Hannah will be exceedingly grateful if you come up with a solution that would work for us. Or, maybe you just have a total horror story to share of a toddler and tree gone wrong? Or even a pet, that would work, too. If so, please share!