Christmas recovery

Opening presents Christmas morning

It's taken me days to recover from Christmas.  No really, I'm not joking in the least.  One of the things I've learned in the last 5 years is that having a child with a birthday two days after Christmas makes it so there is no break between Christmas and Birthday celebration. I'd almost describe the experience as awful, and at the very least, I always feel guilty because Lilia doesn't have any sort of separation from Christmas.  She doesn't seem to mind too much, thankfully.  I guess that comes from being an awesome kid. The kids opened presents on Christmas Eve, Christmas, Boxing Day and Lilia's birthday.

Christmas was good though.  I enjoy the time with family, particularly with my niece and nephew since it makes my kids happy to be able to play with them.  I love seeing the excitement in both kids for Christmas- Lilia was super excited about "Santa", even doing an impromptu last minute bribe for Santa (she cleaned her room without being asked) and begged to go to bed as soon as we got home from Grandpa's place on Christmas Eve.  Liam picked up on Lilia's excitement, and enjoyed all his new toys.

Blowing out the candles

Lilia's Birthday was small- just family.  We're working on doing "half-birthdays" for both kids in June each year.  It seems weird, but with birthdays so close to Christmas, we felt it was the best way to allow each kid to have a party with friends without imposing on others during such a busy season.  We got her a cake, the cake she asked for while at the store, had her cousins and family over and just had a nice time.  With the exception of Liam swiping off the word birthday from her cake, everything went fantastic.  And she loved her present- a pink DS and NintenDogs.

We still have to survive New Years, and Liam's birthday next week, but that's not as hectic and stressful as Christmas.  Thankfully.  And in case you are wondering, yes...I did finish my advent calendar garland, on time.

The finished garland