Well, the stockings are hung. They are filled with bits of construction paper glued together and colored by the kids for each other.
The tree is decorated, with the smooshy soft ornaments around the bottom and the breakables at the top. And the skirt is on upside down.
The cookies are made, but already half gone. We're going to have to make more for Santa!
We have the boxes still sitting in the dining room from putting the tree up, and they'll probably still be there in two weeks when we take the tree back down.
Christmas around here is crazy. My kids love to decorate, and bake and "help", and it's too much, sometimes! But I can't believe how much less stressful it is for our family than for a lot of others I've heard from.
We don't go to get pictures with Santa. With six children, there's no way we could get them all to look at the camera at once, anyway. We have an opportunity to go to one for free at our church, but we missed it this year due to basketball. No one even noticed. Woot!!
Santa only brings three gifts per child and they go under the tree on Christmas eve, so there's not as much wrapping, then peeking, unwrapping, re-taping, ripping, etc. The tree is bare underneath until Santa comes. The stockings are filled by Mom and Dad, and they know it, and those aren't filled until Christmas eve, either. So much easier!
We don't do a lot of baking. We make cookies for Santa, and a few extras just because, but I remember going to my Grandmother's every year for an entire day just to bake, and while it was fun, I can't imagine the time and expense of that now.
Don't get me wrong, we have our traditions, but they do not involve a lot of shopping and standing in line. We don't spend entire days baking. We watch the same movies every year, and we always go to Grandpa's house. And there is always a game of Hearts to be played.
Giving gifts is fun, as are all the baking and shopping and decorations, but to me, the best part of Christmas is family. Christmas to me is about being together. Remembering Jesus and His birth and the miracle of that. Remembering His poverty, and the gifts He both gave through His life and death, and received from the kings who recognized the true King of kings.
Merry CHRISTmas!
