A Christmas with Tradition

2004-12-04 at 11:53 a.m.


Life has been hectic here at Casa de Chaos.

J and G have taken turns being sick and have been more demanding than usual. I feel as if I'm jumping up every thirty seconds to refill juice cups, rewind videos, find toys and recover children whose blankets keep finding their way off.

G ran a fever Wednesday, fell asleep in the car and was downright lethargic most of the day.

J missed school Thursday and Friday. He was putting his show and tell item in his backpack one minute, then crying that he couldn't go to school the next. He threw up, had a diarrhea accident and spiked a 103 degree fever in the blink of an eye.

As of today, all seems to be back to normal, but I know from experience not to assume it'll stay that way.

As a reward to myself for having my shit together well enough this year to actually have Christmas shopping, cards and decorating DONE before the month of December, I am dispensing with, or at least temporarily suspending a couple of particular seasonal "traditions".

STOCKINGS ~ Nothing says Christmas like children hanging their stockings on the mantel Christmas Eve and anxiously tugging them down the next morning to see what goodies await them.

Not this year.

This year, I want to free myself of the responsibility of finding small toys, candy and other useless shit that the boys don't need, for the sole purpose of filling a stocking. I would just as soon spend a little more money on something they really want than on several smaller somethings they neither want, nor need.

ORNAMENTS ~ You're saying... Wha? No ornaments?? That's right. I bought a new prelit tree and that's all the decorating I'm doing this year for several reasons. One, I'm the only one in this family who has ever "trimmed the tree". When I was growing up, it was a warm, fuzzy family tradition to sit around the living room, adding delicate little tchotchkies to the tree.

Now that I am an adult (stop laughing), one member of this marriage, who shall remain nameless, plunks his ass on the couch in front of Law and Order, while the other of us undergoes the daunting task of deciding which overpriced Ha11mark "keep*cough*sake" goes on which branch.

Not this year...

I want to take a vacation from the finding, unpacking, hanging, taking down and repacking nightmare that is "trimming the tree". Plus... are you familiar with three year olds? Are you aware of their inability to leave shit alone?

I rest my case. There will be no ornaments this year. Perhaps next year.

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