Holiday Traditions

We are big on traditions here in this house. Just about every holiday has some kind of tradition tied to it. Some are the common ones and some are a little bit different. Christmas is big in our house as it is in many others. We spend many nights doing the same things we did the year before and the year before that. Black Fridays are spent putting up the tree, evenings are spent watching certain shows or viewing Christmas lights, and weekends are spent baking in between the football games. We play music, we tell stories, we have fun!

This year is a little different though. With the lack of sleep that I am still getting (yes, I am still not sleeping, or should I say Sophia is still not sleeping. Out of all my bad sleepers she is the worst!) and with the sickly little ones I have had for the past two weeks I am all discombobulated. My tree is up but only has lights on it. Some decorations are appearing here and there but we usually have it all done by now. The only baking that has been done at this point has all been eaten by the kiddies (ok, we had some too).

The funny thing is most years I would be upset over all of this chaos or lack of routine but somehow I am finding it all to be ok. I am going with the flow as they say. The kids don't seem bothered by the change in our pre-holiday flow so why should I be. Instead I am going to enjoy the traditions we are able to squeeze in this year and not worry about the rest. Hey, maybe 20 years from now the older boys will look at me and say "remember that crazy year when nothing was the same - that was fun because..."

So I am off to that cup of hot cocoa and hopefully squeeze in a project for a few minutes. For those of you wondering yes, I am soooo behind on those projects that I may have to go shopping or something. Maybe instead of handmade Christmas presents this year I will start a new tradition and hand out handmade Valentines Day presents!