Every year I try to plan for a relaxed, family centered Christmas Eve, and every year, it is a crazy day filled with frantic last minute gift making (and even some buying by some members of the family), grocery shopping (along with the rest of the city), cleaning, deliveries, and baking.
This year was no exception, and I was a little frustrated with some of the tasks that I felt others were pushing on me, but in the end, I was spending time with my family. Maybe we didn't get to make a puzzle or play games as I'd hoped, but I did get some one-on-one time with each of the kids as Bean and I finished a present for her youngest brother, and Bug and I finished one for his dad, and Peanut and I always have moments through the day.
I snuck away for a couple hours to deliver a few plates of goodies to the ladies from church who I try to visit each month, and it ended up being a nice time alone in the car, away from all the noise at the house which was starting to turn me into the Grinch, and a good visit with the one woman who I found home that afternoon.
Maybe my favorite part of the evening was lying down with the kids, who'd chosen to all sleep in the boys' bedroom, as they drifted off to sleep. I fell asleep for sure before Bean, and maybe before Bug, too, so I got a much needed nap to see me through the couple hours of work I still had waiting for me (I was pulling the last tray of rolls from the oven at midnight), but in the moments right before we all began drifting off to dreamland, it was fun being with the kids as they wound down from the excitement that had been building all day on the most anticipation-filled day of the year.
Maybe next year will be different. Maybe the planning ahead will actually happen, or maybe I'll embrace the chaos and quit expecting anything different, but either way, Christmas Eve will have moments of happiness along with the frustration. Of that, I am sure.
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