After Christmas rest

The first three weeks of December were really, really crazy, and although most of the activities were enjoyable, and the stress positive, it physically exhausted me this year. I was so tired on Christmas Eve, having stayed up the night before wrapping presents until the wee hours, but with the goal – Christmas day – in sight, I pushed on: ran errands, cooked, prepared. I even managed to put together a Swedish Christmas Eve feast, complete with pickled herring, scalloped potatoes, beet salad, and ham. We lit candles, had mulled wine (which I boiled, to get the alcohol out of it) and homemade ginger snaps in the evening. The kids got to bed late, giving us a late start on putting out the presents, eating the cookies and milk, and enjoying the quiet magic of anticipation, as we do every Christmas Eve. Sometime after 1 am we were done though, and I could finally get some sleep (“some,” being the keyword here, since our kids have this fantastic ability to sleep past nine on any given school day, but somehow manage to wake up very early every Christmas Day morning).

Christmas Day was perfect, but as always, went by in a flash (which is why I enjoy our Advent and Christmas Eve celebrations so much, because they make Christmas something more than just a moment). We got the kids really great gifts this year, just right for their abilities, interests and characters. Abraham jumps off energy at all times of the day on his new trampoline, and can sit for hours with his moon sand. The boys sail around campus with their friends on their new roller blades, and relax with their games at home in the evenings, or work on their Chemistry set with papa.

Christmas Day dinner was probably one of the best ever, with a perfectly cooked turkey, tasty, creamy gravy, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberries, candied carrots and a superb stuffing; pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert, and of course the customary candy buffet in the evening. I enjoyed it all thoroughly.

The day after Christmas we still had to run some errands, but after that, my body told me to stop. My hands were swollen, my face puffy (my blood pressure probably way higher than I would like to know), my body tired, and crying out for water, fresh veggies and fruit, vitamins, minerals and fiber. I’ve consequently spent the past few days doing basically nothing, which in my world means housework, some light exercise, and spending time with the kids and helping my husband with his work. I’m still not quite ready to start back up again, but we have no plans for new year’s eve and just a couple of commitments over the next few days, so I will simply continue focusing on just growing a baby, if that’s all right, until I’ve regained some strength.