CHRISTMAS INSIDE A BLENDED FAMILY
The last entry in Blogmas appropriately calls for a description of Christmas morning, but blended families aren't always able to celebrate when the calendar tells us to. More often than not, the bigger holidays get stretched out and molded to include as many family members as possible.
This year, my twins were with their mother on Christmas Day. Additionally, we made plans to take a road trip the morning after the girls came back to us. The result was a Christmas celebration that spanned two weeks. I'll chronicle the experience as best I can:
Sunday, December 17th
My father's family lives about a couple hours south of us, and we've been a bit estranged of late. Namely, the elections put stress on an already complex dichotomy, and the kids haven't visited that side of the family in several months. We set aside this particular Sunday so that my father and his wife could come visit all five of the littles and have a small Christmas with them. Mallerie's aunt and cousin also wanted to celebrate with the kids, so they made plans to join us.
The day effectively began around 3 pm when we took all the kids to take a picture with Santa. My dad met us there, then followed us back to the house for presents and dinner. Mallerie and I had planned for the kids to decorate a gingerbread village, so my dad and Mallerie's mom helped the kids cover their respective gingerbread houses with goodies while my stepmom played with baby Grayson.
Once everyone had had enough of decorating, the kids opened presents from my dad and stepmom, as well as Mallerie's aunt and cousin. Once the floor was covered in shards of wrapping paper, we ducked out to get dinner and the kids dove into their toys. After dinner, everyone said their goodbyes and headed for home. Shortly thereafter, we gave the kids hot cocoa and then put them to bed.
Monday, December 25th
The official celebration began on Christmas Eve when the littles (minus the twins) opened their Christmas Eve present. Inside, they found new pajamas, hot cocoa, popcorn, and Finding Dory. It's a tradition with Mallerie's family to don the new pjs and watch whatever movie they get together, but this year we were scrambling a bit.
The kids started the movie with one of their aunts while we frantically hunted down tape and finished wrapping presents. Before bed, we set out eggnog and cookies for Santa. I begged the kids to let me sleep in, while Mallerie told them to wake us up immediately at the crack of dawn.
Needless to say, the kids listened to Mallerie. I was dragged from bed just as the sun peeked over the trees across the street. This wouldn't have been so bad except for two things: I lacked coffee, and I didn't get to sleep until after midnight because we were arranging presents under the tree.
Though we begged everyone to go easy this Christmas, the kids still wound up with so many presents they had to open them in waves. Between sessions, Mallerie's mom made fresh sweet rolls and hashbrown casserole while I sought out a Starbucks willing to indulge my addiction. Ultimately, the kids opened presents until about 11 am.
For lunch, we ate homemade burritos, queso, and fresh tamales. The real highlight of the afternoon, though, was a Nerf gun fight at the park with the older kids and their grandpa. We broke out all manner of weaponry, from bows and arrows to automatic pistols, and chased each other around for the better part of an hour. That wore most of us out, so we relaxed for the rest of the evening and let the littles spread their new goodies all over the downstairs living room.
Wednesday, December 28th - Sunday, January 1st
We picked the girls up from Montessori school in the late afternoon, thanks in large part to three doctor's appointments between Mallerie, Grayson, and me. They were full of chatter and clung to my legs as we waited for Mallerie to get the camera ready. As soon as the girls were allowed inside, they looked to the tree and saw their new cars (both had proclaimed on their 3rd birthday that they wanted to be 16 so they could drive). We spent the rest of the evening opening presents and scattering toys before shuffling the littles off to bed.
The following morning, we loaded up all the kids, two grandmas and an aunt for a Christmas road trip. Despite more than ten hours in the car, we arrived in Alamogordo, New Mexico in (mostly) good spirits. The hotel itself was a disaster and Grayson was having none of the elevation changes during the drive, but we got to sleep at a semi-decent hour.
When we woke up, the free continental breakfast had already passed, which ended up being a good thing because we snagged a stellar meal at the Pancake and Waffle Shoppe next to the hotel. Full and excited, we headed out to White Sands. At the gift shop, we purchased four sleds and some wax to tackle the dunes. Needless to say, our kids were beyond excited.
They shouted for us to stop at the first dune we came across and began a carousel of sledding and climbing the sandy hill. Eventually, we coaxed them back into the car to explore the rest of the park, which allowed us to settle on a steep dune away from other sledders. This second dune was a huge hit with the kids and the adults alike, aside from the fact that we all struggled to get back up the hill after sledding down. We were all so exhausted by late afternoon that we packed up and headed back to the hotel for the rest of the night.
The next morning was rainy, so we drove a scenic loop through Cloudcroft. The drive itself was gorgeous, taking us more than 8,000 ft into the mountains. We even passed through a small burst of snow! Next, we stopped into the Old Apple Barn, an adorable gift shop with all manner or tasty treats and shiny trinkets. We purchased from fudge, local root beer, and keepsakes for the kids.
The clouds were lingering, so we took the littles to the hotel for a nap. Around 3 pm, we roused everyone and went back to White Sands for another round of sledding. This time, we ventured farther from the road and found a dune so steep that even the kids couldn't climb. My twins were still tired and napped in the car while the rest of us took turns flying down the hill on our sleds. We kept our eyes on the sky and used every bit of daylight before turning back to the cars.
Sunday morning, we loaded up and headed back to Texas. The drive back was a bit more tense and stressful. Everyone was in desperate need of a little space after four days in such close quarters. Still, we got back in one piece and closed out the winter break with laughter.
And there you have it: Christmas with a blended family. Sure, it's more exhausting and drawn out, but it also allows for so many layers of experience. In just two weeks, we had two nights and one morning beneath the tree, three sets of grandparents, three very different menus, and some time for a trek across state lines. Yes, Christmas morning is a little sad with only 3 of the 5 kids, but I think we made up for it and more.
Do you have a blended family? How do you make the most of the holidays?
