The Great Christmas Chaos

There are only three "real" kids in my family; Zach, Kyle and Vika, and then several people who are kids simply because they never grew up (and that's a good thing!). Sometimes I wonder just how Christmas gets so out of hand in such a small family! We spent Christmas day at my mom's. It was one of the very few (maybe the only?) white Christmas of my life! In fact there was so much snow Christmas Eve day that Christmas Eve Church service was cancelled! I'm very glad that there wasn't too much snow for Santa and his reindeer. Explaining that one to the kids may have been a bigger challenge than I would have wanted.

We continued my family's tradition of inviting people who don't have anyone to spend Christmas with. This year that meant more family! (A very exciting phenomena when one comes from such a small family!) Brian's parents joined us as well as my uncle who travelled from Vancouver Island. Brian's cousin Lisa was supposed to join us but was snowed in in Coquitlam. Of course Lisa, Rick and Zach were there.

Kyle enjoyed putting out cookies for Santa, along with the chocolate milk - because there is ALWAYS chocolate milk at Nana's as far as Kyle is concerned. And there were also carrots for the reindeer, and the accompanying note. In the morning it was a bit difficult to get Kyle to wait until Zach and Lisa and Rick came over but he managed pretty good. We started with stockings and that alone probably was enough for everyone! And then came the gifts - and gifts, and gifts! There were laughs and excitement and lots of delight. Some of the highlights were Kyle's playmobil crane and fireman boots, Linda's Italy photobook, Lisa's Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner and Vika's new doll and baby stroller. There was also Brian's new bike.

Our day always includes a family brunch after gifts with my very favourite Christmas tradition: my mom's homemade Stollen (German Christmas Bread). Then there's time for trying out the gifts and just hanging out before we tidy up for dinner. This year was a little bit unique as Zach and Kyle could not wait to put the gifts aside and suit up to go out and play in the snow! And they did - for hours! Lisa, Rick and Zach usually head home to relax for the afternoon as they are always up late Christmas Eve. They return for dinner and we have the traditional turkey with my sister's great garlic mashed potatoes. This year Brian's mom made a selection of pies for dessert.

We like to drag out Christmas for one more day. Boxing day is PJ's and puzzles in my mom's house. And we like it just that way. I think this may be difficult for some of the guests sometimes but they usually get the hang of it without too much effort! This year mom's puzzle was one of the Cinque Terre in Italy - where we visited earlier in the year.

The chaos of Christmas in the Hartley household is something I actually quite enjoy - as exhausting as it it is! It is all part of tradition, but if it weren't for the kids what would it be? Kyle was able to read his name on gifts this year and Vika...well, Vika got a little ahead of herself in opening gifts and there were a couple that had to be wrapped again!