it's over

Whew.

This has been an especially intense and unorganized Christmas season. One with a lot of vomiting. The whole month of December (and November, too, actually) has been crazy. It has given little time to appreciate the holiday. So I thought I might do so in retrospect. Here are a few things I enjoyed this year, now having had a little time to think about it:

No. 1: I bought a few extra Christmas decorations this year of which I am immensely fond. Even though they sent me over my Christmas budget. But this is a happy list, so we won't focus on that part, will we? (Besides, a lot of things sent me over budget.)

No. 2: I went up to Salt Lake City for an afternoon to see my sisters who live up there. It was enjoyable. I ate some truffles and admired their apartments. (And about had a heart attack thinking that my daughter had locked a bathroom door that could not be opened from the outside. But apparently the key to my sister's deadbolt works for both the deadbolt and the bathroom. Convenient.) Then I gave my Dad a ride home from work so he wouldn't have to ride the bus. What a nice sister and daughter I am.

No. 3: We have received a jolly amount of snow. A veritable white, white Christmas. Ben shoveled together a snow fort for the kids, and they are in heaven.

No. 4: Reading a Christmas themed story book (almost) each night of December. I think I got the idea from Chris, who perhaps has done this in past years? I wrapped up all our books in cute and inexpensive wrapping paper and the kids took turns unwrapping a book to read each night. It was a huge hit.

No. 5: My parents have instituted two nights of family Christmas caroling: on Christmas Eve and on the Sunday evening before Christmas. My children made it through the Sunday night sing-along and participated in our dramatic version of "We Three Kings" where all the verses are sung and each king given a different voice (british accent, nasal, and deep bass). While character has slid over the years into more of caricature, it's all good fun. Unfortunately we missed the rousing tunes of Jingle Bells and The Chipmunk Song, which I imagine were part of the Christmas Eve repertoire, but the kids wanted to get home before that got started.

Christmas was an adventure. I will perhaps chronicle it tomorrow. After I have a long nap.