When you have a five year-old, Christmas is more about damage control and survival than pondering on the birth of our Savior. Max had a complete meltdown Christmas Eve that involved a lot of crying, declarations of love and then some sleeping. He was fine on Christmas morning, but he’s been a bit of a loose cannon the past week or so. Christmas is too much, too built up, too all-encompassing and for too long. It’s also probably impossible to change it, what with the stores putting up Christmas decorations before our Thanksgiving turkey is even purchased, and Santa showing up all over the place before all the leaves are off the trees.\
Not that I don’t like Christmas. I really, really do. I love finding the right present for the people I love, and I get all excited to see their faces when they open presents. But, it’s one day. There shouldn’t be two months of build-up, three weeks of insane specials and commercials on TV that get our kids all wound up to the point that they break before the day even gets here.\
I’m not sure what to do. Maybe we’ll go on TV-sabbatical the week before Christmas, just to avoid all the hype. But, we still have to go to the grocery store, to church, etc…\
All in all, we had a really good Christmas. Max got to open two kids’ worth of presents (Brian hasn’t quite got it yet, and was more interested in eating the boxes than playing with new toys), we had ham, and got to hang out with the family. Max and I got new video games, which we’re having lots of fun with (Ratchet & Clank 3 and Paper Mario), and I have this week off.\
OK, maybe Christmas isn’t so bad after all. Still, I could do without the crying.
Christmas Thoughts
If you can get them to sleep just the littlest bit during the last week it helps. Of course, it also helps if they are sick. That’s what happened to all 3 of my kids beginning on the supposedly 6.5 hour trip from TX to MS that increases exponentially with each additional child. Then try doing it as the only adult. Super fun.
BTW, how is R&C 3? We have the first 2 but decided to wait ’til 3 goes to $20 before buying. Does Max play it too?
Good luck for New Years! I left my kids in MS and made the trip back in 6.5 hrs. I’ll have to pick them up Sun. But we get New Years and Thomas’ b-day(01-01)!
Ratchet and Clank 3 is AWESOME. Max tries to play it, but it’s a harder than 2, and a lot harder than one. This one’s funnier (so far), and there are a lot more characters and diversions (mini-games and arena type challenges). The Quark minigames are the best, and multiplayer is a lot of fun. I’ll probably write a whole post about it later…