Christmas & Christmas Break 2024 Recap

Happy Friday, friends!  

This week’s Friday Favorites is going to be a little different! I’m going to do a Christmas/Christmas break recap.  But first, a new meal plan is now in the Library of Resources.  

That’s a screenshot above! The links are not clickable, meal plans are found in the library of resources! Most people who read Friday Favorites are already subscribers and should have access to the meal plans. If you have trouble accessing it, click here to see this two-minute video instructions.  

Now, onto Christmas break!  Which honestly didn’t start on the best terms, as I had to let go of our sitter on Christmas Eve.  I went back and forth about how much of this story I would share, BUT after talking to so many people, it seems I’m not alone in having an issue. In fact, I should be lucky this is the first one that didn’t work out.  In six years, I’ve never had to let go of a sitter; most have been with us for a year or two.  Without getting into the specifics, she made several demands that were very nit-picky (like me not opening the door fast enough when she arrived), mentioned several times her stress levels (specifically, she said cortisol levels) were too high, wanted a different day off a week then we had originally agreed upon, mentioned how snappy she had been with the kids because she was so stressed, complained when I offered to give her another day off a week about it not being enough hours, complained constantly about the kids getting her sick, refused to do light chores originally agreed upon like taking out the trash if full and on and on.

After sharing her list of demands, 90% of which I agreed to (as I explained to Mr. Hungry, letting her go right there is like quitting your job with no backup plan), she stopped picking up after the kids (think dishes piled high in the sink), was on her phone constantly, was consistently snappy almost whiney with the kids, and demanded to know when KJ would be home sick or not because he asked for a lot of snacks. She was a very nice girl, and it started out really well.  I’m not sure what happened, but I couldn’t keep her.  I was stressed out every day, walking on eggshells, trying not to upset my 21-year-old nanny, who lives at home and, pays  no rent and has no real responsibilities but somehow has very high cortisol levels (according to her.)  Absolutely f*@#ing not.  Moving somewhere with no grandparents as backup and the closest family 40 minutes away means I need someone who will love the kids and us and want to be here.  So, I pulled the plug on Christmas Eve.  To be fair that was her scheduled last day before a two-week break AND I still gave her a Christmas bonus AND spent 45 minutes “letting her down easy” because somehow the news came as a shock to her. 

But, the good news is, I found someone else already, let’s say, who has children around the age of 20 instead of being 20.  Fingers crossed, we have a better experience this time! (If not, I am looking into daycare options because this experience was next level stressful.) My new nanny has a little less flexibility in scheduling. Still, we spent an hour talking, and I think forfeiting flexibility for experience will be good because she seems to be exactly what we need.  Hopefully, it all works out!

So, after that fiasco, we made Christmas cookies, haha. This year has been tough being in a rental that we don’t know how long we will be in. We don’t really have any family photos on the walls, and we took out only about half of our normal decorations. With everything going on, I wasn’t really monitoring what “Christmas magic” activities we had done. Somehow, we still managed to do all the important things, though: see Santa, look at Christmas lights, etc. But on Christmas Eve morning, KJ reminded me we needed to make cookies “for Santa” and get carrots for the reindeer. By some miracle, I had all the ingredients for cookies and frosting (flour, sugar, and Christmas sprinkles bought randomly in October – God bless October, Kelli). So, we made sugar cookies (recipe from sugar spun run). And by some other miracle, I had the “big” carrots for the reindeer, too.  

After that, we went to Christmas Eve mass. I’m not about getting to church 60 minutes early, which means an additional hour of trying to keep kids in seats so no one steals them.  Instead, we got there about 20 minutes before the masses started; we got the last spot in the overflow to the overflow and had to stand outside of the overflow mass.  You know what?  It was perfect.  KJ played cars with this friend from school, KK fell asleep on Daddy, and baby girl wandered around like she would have done in the back of church anyway.  And it was rainy, but it didn’t rain for that hour and a half, so I’d say it was exactly the Christmas Eve we needed. I know someday the kids will be old enough to go early, sit still, and behave.  I think I’ll look back at the mass we stood outside while we had three kids six and under and smile.  I’ll miss it, I know I will, so this year, I smile at thinking how standing outside was exactly what we needed. 

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Baby girl only letting me take photos if moving!

Christmas morning was equally perfect.  The magic of Christmas came alive when the boys discovered how Santa rearranged their Santa trap and ate their cookies/carrots.  

We give “one” Santa gift to each kid, and the rest are from Mommy and Daddy. PS How many gifts does Santa bring your kids? Or bring you as a kid? For me, growing up, Santa brought it all, but I was an only child. For Mr. Hungry’s family, there was one gift per kid. I kind of like the idea of getting some credit as the parent, so it was easy to follow Mr. Hungry’s family tradition.

KK asked Santa for this Robot Walle that he is now obsessed with and even sleeps in his bed.

KJ asked Santa for this Scorpion Nerf Gun, which he kind of likes as his first Nerf gun set. His biggest present hits were a tie between his new micro scooter and the remote control wall-crawler gecko. (KJ just turned six, for reference.)

Magnatiles were also another big hit. We got KK (3.5 years old), this Magnatile construction kit, and KJ, these glow-in-the-dark ones. (Be aware that the glow-in-the-dark ones come with a blacklight key chain that is about the size of a button battery and contains a lithium button battery. I put a huge keychain on it, and when they forgot about it, I hid it. I also recently saw that Energizer makes these blue ink batteries that will get ink all over your kid’s mouth if they put one in it. For those who don’t have little kids right now, kids, for some reason, like to swallow them, and then they burn through their soft tissues. High risk of death if they swallow it, especially if you don’t know they swallowed it. Hence, the blue ink to alert parents.)

Other gifts for KJ – crayola bug maker, ninja turtle figurines, ninja turtle sweatsuit

Other gifts for KK – hulk play doh, ninja turtle figurines, ninja turtle sweatsuit

A potential present fail was a kids punching bag. The kids haven’t really used it as a punching bag (well, my almost 9-year-old nephew did, but not my kids.) Instead, they pull it back till it touches the ground and let it go. So ya, I wouldn’t buy that again.

NJ got this bathtub octopus and mermaids from us. A push-around leapfrog puppy from her great Aunt and uncle. A shopping cart from her Aunt/Uncle, and this baby with a stroller from her grandparents. Huge hits! She loves them!

Mr. Hungry’s parents arrived Christmas day around 3 pm. We ordered dinner from Whole Foods (picked up on Christmas Eve) and agreed we would do it again! We got their holiday package with Bourbon maple ham, green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, and mac and cheese. Which was about $175, and we had plenty of leftovers! Honestly, last year we cooked everything ourselves and spent double the price, so we were happy with this option! Especially after doing a bunch of cooking for Thanksgiving, it was nice to have it all pretty much-taken care of! Oh, and Mr. Hungry requested a box of stove tops to accompany the meal, to which I added onions and celery (how my Grandma taught me!)

The rest of the time was spent playing with toys and hanging out at the park near the house. The kids just love to be outside! It did rain on and off, so they were double excited when they could go outside again!

When my SIL got back in town, the kids got to have Christmas number two, which they had no idea they were getting more presents, so they all loved that. My four year old niece LOVES the jewelry making set we got her (she just turned 4)!

And of course we asked my FIL to  make  his famous biscuits and gravy one morning!

We spent many nights playing Farkle and enjoying drinks! Also, I highly recommend watching the Wonka movie on Netflix (how Wonka became Wonka, but we fast forwarded past the songs.) OH, and Juror #2 – that movie was INSANE!

More trips to the park, but this time with the cousins! And for New Year’s Eve, we didn’t get together to avoid the roads, but on New Year’s Day, everyone came over to our house, and we grilled up a feast! On New Year’s Eve, I was asleep by 8:30 pm and slept till 7:30 am. Probably the first year ever, I didn’t even have one drink on New Year’s Eve (and wasn’t pregnant.) We did order Thai food though!

And KJ celebrated with his love for picking the breading off calamari and eating the little baby octopus.  I mean sure kid, yogurt is disgusting but baby octopus is delicious. Kids. LOL 

And now, we just have one more family event to look forward to. Mr. Hungry’s birthday is on Saturday! I always joke that our January 1st is delayed till January 5th every year. I’m planning to share a recap of the year and a new word of the year, so stay tuned! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season, and Happy New Year!