Holiday Time!

First Night of Hanukkah

All my packages have been mailed, my husband is home on vacation this week, and the kids only have a couple more days of school before the holidays. The season has been hectic but I'm finally getting closer to a relaxation state. Lighting the candles is always nice and quiet, we sing the hebrew prayer, and there is only one present per kid to open each night, until we run out. That's for my husband's side.

The Christmas Tree

This is for my side. Notice the knitted ornament in the center front (there are three: one for each of the kids). We have ornaments from different trips one or more of us have taken as well as homemade ornaments, handmade ornaments others have given us, and special gift ornaments. This year when we were decorating the tree I was explaining to Aya, our Japanese exchange student, where all the different ornaments came from or who made them. My 15-year-old son was also listening carefully. Later that evening he commented about how amazed he was that there was an interesting story behind just about every Christmas tree ornament. A lovely evening all around.

We've made our fudge for the kids to bring to their teachers at school and now we need to make more for us and for friends. We made hanukkah cookies the other night too. We have since decorated them and youngest son brought some in to school for a cookies exchange. Yum!

I had been feeling the holiday stress over getting gifts bought and packages mailed in time. This year I sent boxes to Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. Then I got tired and bought the last one online, and paid for gift wrapping and had it sent to California. Phew! I feel like I singlehandedly kept my local post office in business this month.

Earlier this month we also had central air put in (with heating upstairs to replace the electric heat) so the house was "under construction." Our contractors were very nice and polite and cleaned everything up every day, but "stuff" had to be moved and we lost a little closet space, and I'm still trying to reorganize in the aftermath. But it is done, the heat upstairs is wonderful, and we're glad we did it. As I slowly get more areas cleaned up I start to feel less stressed, and I'm getting ready to enjoy the holidays and having everybody home.

Speaking of having everybody home, the prodigal son (who'd been away at college) is home, so we now have four (4!) teenagers in the house! It may sound scary, but I'm really enjoying having them all here. The other three are still finishing up school, but we'll have a week and a half when everyone is on vacation and we will have some good family time: fires in the fireplace, movies, popcorn, hot chocolate, games, etc.

So I wish you all a very Merry Christmas,  Happy Hanukkah, and a Festive New Year! May we all achieve our goals in the New Year!

Shelley in CT