Merry Christmas Eve!

I hope you are surrounded by loved ones on this day before Christmas, cozy and content, prepared to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the arrival of Santa (and most joyously, the departure of your Elf on the Shelf, haha). We have a weekend full of celebrating planned but I wanted to stop by to wish you a very Merry Christmas!

This week has been chock-full of busy for our family. We've been preparing for this weekend by baking (approximately 14 dozen cookies), shopping (not for Christmas gifts but for random essentials), and wrapping (we've been done Christmas shopping for weeks but I just started wrapping gifts this week!). The crowds around here have been insane all week. Louisa and I were out running errands on Tuesday and Wednesday, and after fighting for parking spaces and waiting in enormous lines, I swore I wouldn't set foot in another store until December 26.

I can't believe how quickly this weekend snuck up on me! It seemed like I had all the time in the world, and then suddenly I only had 5 days and an endless list of baking, laundry, wrapping, and assembling to do in addition to the regular momming and wife-ing I do on a daily basis. We also had a Christmas gathering with friends and Victor's office Christmas party this week. I became overwhelmed from time to time, but I powered through by following Max's advice. Whenever he senses that I'm getting worked up about something, he looks at me with his big blue eyes and says, "Fwoh doowwwwnn, Mom" (slow down) as he pumps his little hands as if he were pumping brakes. I can't help but giggle and take a minute to re-prioritize.

Sometimes as moms, we're so busy trying to make everything magical and memorable that we forget to enjoy the season ourselves. I can totally see myself in the future dreading the holiday season due to all the pressure I put on myself to do all the things. I hope to keep things in perspective and really slow down and enjoy these magical occasions with my kids.

Last night, as we drove home from Victor's office Christmas party, I took a detour to look at Christmas lights with the kids. Max loved shouting out all the colors he saw and was fascinated by the brightly-lit houses. We then snuggled on the couch to watch Santa Claus is Comin' to Town before he and Louisa went to bed. My kitchen still had sprinklings of flour and powdered sugar everywhere, there was a load of laundry to be folded in the dryer, and the remnants of my gift-wrapping marathon from naptime were still all over the family room (I turn into a "shove it in a bag with some tissue paper" gal in the eleventh hour, lol); however, it felt great to truly "fwoh down" and actually watch a movie with my kids. The chores were still waiting for me after the kids went to bed.

I hope you are able to "fwoh down" this weekend and truly take it all in with the ones you love most. Delight in the magic of the season and be present. All the to-dos will be waiting for you later. Enjoy the moment now.

Louisa's first Christmas, 2016

Max's first Christmas, 2014

Merry Christmas!