The longer I live here, the more I realise: Americans – through no fault of their own – are doing life completely wrong.
Monday
It’s Christmas Day, which means a scramble to spend QUALITY CHRISTMAS TIME with both of our families, something that feels especially important to me as my parents are here this Christmas.
Honestly, I’d been getting into a flap approaching Christmas Day, wanting to spend Christmas morning with Bea and my parents and the boys – because watching kids see what Santa Claus brought them is the best part of Christmas – while also knowing that we’d then be going to Brandin’s grandma’s for Christmas dinner #1, before doubling back home with the boys to open their Santa gifts here and then going to Bea’s.
The boys’ mum’s family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve, so they stay with her that day, wake up in her house and see what Santa brought them there, then we pick them up on the way to Brandin’s grandma’s house where we exchange gifts and have dinner with his family.
Anyway, once I decided not to go anywhere first thing, I relaxed a bit, and despite threatening to stay home for the morning on my own (Atlas is currently napping from around 1pm to 4pm, which would hit right at dinner-in-grandma’s time), managed to make it to both Christmasses, bringing Atlas’ pack ‘n’ play and putting him down for a (surprisingly straightforward) nap in our niece’s bedroom.
Instead, I spend the morning making a Terry’s Chocolate Orange cheesecake to bring to Bea’s for dessert and we hit the road at around 10.45am to grab the boys en route.
As usual, there are way too many gifts – for everyone, including me! (I’m not complaining, but everyone is incredibly generous) – and American Christmas dinner is delish, if slightly light on the vegetables. In fact, the only sign of a green vegetable comes in green bean casserole form, a Midwestern delicacy I shall not be sampling.
After dinner #1, we head home to unload the gifts and let the dog out; watch the boys opening their Santa gifts (honestly, a bit disappointing, I think – Santa at their mom’s got them a stereo and a drum kit, respectively, and Santa over our side of town couldn’t really compare); and get all of our stuff together to bring to Bea’s. (We’d brought her family’s gifts over the night before, so thankfully that wasn’t too big a task.)
At Bea’s, we have dinner #2, which is a sit-down affair, compared to the earlier American buffet-style meal, and then do pressies one by one, another difference to the “everyone open now!” method at Brandin’s grandma’s.
I suspect the kids prefer the latter method, but I like it when people open their gifts one at a time, so I can see who got what, and from whom.
By 8pm, we’re all behaving like children who are out way past our bedtime – and by “all”, I obviously mean only the adults – yawning and (naming no names) getting dangerously close to falling asleep on the couch, so we end up heading home not too late (by around 9pm), where we somehow succeed in convincing the boys that now is not the time to start building their Christmas Legos, and put them to bed.
We follow soon after, very full and tired but happy (and, in my case, glad I didn’t sit either of our Christmasses out).
I don’t buy anything (it’s Christmas Day! It would be sacrilege!) but my Sweaty Betty Pay in 4 comes out anyway. ($66.34)
Daily total: $66.34
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