Best Christmas Break Ever!

You would think that a Christmas after layoff would be horrible.  But who would have thought I would dream this the best Christmas break ever.  But I have.  As it became more and more apparent that my husband would not get a job quickly (and not for lack of trying) I picked up the overtime and we planned and planned on how to make this single income family life work.  We immediately decided to trim down on Christmas.  Plan was to make sure the kids had a good Christmas and everything else would fall into place.  And it did.  What this holiday season has meant for me was building family memories.  Things that I hope my little ones will look back on and giggle about how “goofy mom and dad were”.  Those are the memories I have and cherish as a child.

New traditions have been started in our house this year.  We played a game with a little elf that changed positions every day so the kids thought he was going back and forth to the North Pole.  With there dad home everyday we were able to sit down and eat family dinner together and enjoy our advent wreath and talking about the true meaning of Christmas.  When dad was battling traffic to get home, he sometimes didn’t make it in time for dinner,,,only for a quick goodnight.  We enjoyed looking at the lights in our neighborhood and spending time with family baking Christmas cookies.  We were able to share all the Christmas shows we enjoyed as kids with our kids (as someone was now home with them everyday to help them find it).  During there Christmas break time we have instituted a new family fun time.  Family game day.  And no there are no computers, Wii, playstations or game cubes involved.  Only the old fashioned board games we grew up on.  Sorry, Monopoly JR, Hi-Ho Cheerio, Rat Trap (what my son calls mouse trap) are some faves at this time.  We sit around the table eating pop corn laughing and playing games.  The 4 1/2 yr old still has some of her “own” rules but we go with it.

I hate to say I am sad to see the Christmas break end and the kids go back to school.  We will miss all the fun of having them around all day.  Now it will be back to the grind stone of job searching, working and the new adventure of Ty Quan Do for my son.  However, I have the wonderful memories of the last two glorious weeks with the most important people in my life.  The entire reason I wake up with a smile every day.  My family, my hubby, son and daughter!