Christmas with family
Despite my and my mother-in-law's digestion sickness (Christmas is a period of solidarity right?), I had a better 24hours and managed to join the family celebrations reasonably well with hope of being cured.
Since a few years, we celebrate Christmas Eve with my in-law relatives and then Christmas with my family. For the children it is a cumulation of getting many gifts, relatively shortly after Sinterklaas visited them early December. They were confused about wanting to write Santa a letter and wondering if Santa would visit at night but I told them Santa only visited children in countries where Sinterklaas had not been...both gentlemen help each other a bit. There was a moment of panic/ disappointment not going to get presents, when I told them we were just going to exchange gifts to each other that we all bought for each other.
Actually a decade ago we abandonned buying gifts for each other when it just seemed to cause stress in the family. It's all about making choices right and doing activities that re-energise you: if the hunt for presents seems to do the opposite for all involved, it might not be worth it. AT first I regretted the decision that I did not initiate but in the end, I truly love the ease of mind.
However with the arrival of many grand-children in the family, the gifts have been re-introduced for the children. It's still quite easy to shop for children and make them happy and seeing their excitements brings so much joy.
With the rest of the family, we spent many hours at the table and enjoyed some relax time to have conversations and spend rare time all together.
Christmas Eve
Since a few years, we celebrate Christmas Eve with my in-law relatives and then Christmas with my family. For the children it is a cumulation of getting many gifts, relatively shortly after Sinterklaas visited them early December. They were confused about wanting to write Santa a letter and wondering if Santa would visit at night but I told them Santa only visited children in countries where Sinterklaas had not been...both gentlemen help each other a bit. There was a moment of panic/ disappointment not going to get presents, when I told them we were just going to exchange gifts to each other that we all bought for each other.
Actually a decade ago we abandonned buying gifts for each other when it just seemed to cause stress in the family. It's all about making choices right and doing activities that re-energise you: if the hunt for presents seems to do the opposite for all involved, it might not be worth it. AT first I regretted the decision that I did not initiate but in the end, I truly love the ease of mind.
However with the arrival of many grand-children in the family, the gifts have been re-introduced for the children. It's still quite easy to shop for children and make them happy and seeing their excitements brings so much joy.
With the rest of the family, we spent many hours at the table and enjoyed some relax time to have conversations and spend rare time all together.
Christmas Eve
Christmas
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