Happy Holiday season! Hope you are finding ways to get into the holiday spirit! This past weekend the Potter fam dove headfirst into the Christmas decorations. The kids have been asking since the day after Thanksgiving if we could start decorating—but to be fair, we’ve trained them to think that way. We typically get right on it after Thanksgiving. Jay’s mom and stepdad usually come in for Turkey day and we also celebrate Christmas with them that weekend-and you can’t celebrate Christmas without a tree! But with this year being all out of whack, sadly we didn’t have our usual Thanksgiving/Christmas with Grandma and Papa, so our sense of urgency, well…just wasn’t there. But when Rowen asked me if we were going to put up our calendar with treats this year (translation: advent calendar), that’s when I started to feel guilty, and told myself I needed to get my a$$ in gear. It was December 4th after all, and my children had already missed out on 4 days of Christmas festivities. Eeeek! Could I be worse mom??? Ok, yes, I joke. I don’t actually think forgetting to put up an advent calendar by December 1st is what will make or break their Christmas experience. But for every celebration we put on for our kids, we want it to be the happiest, the most fun, most memorable, the merriest, the absolute best! When I think back to my Christmases or birthdays when I was a little kid, I remember some of the details; definitely not everything, as my memory is far from crystal clear. But without a doubt, I know my parents did a great job sparking joy, creating laughter and building excitement all throughout my childhood celebrations. In general, I just remember being happy; and I can only hope my kids one day look back at these times and that’s the first word that pops into their heads too: “happy”. For the details I remember, most are small and insignificant. Like how my mom used to hand sew and stuff little Christmas trees for all my teachers. I was so impressed she could make them all by hand and they all looked identical! Or how every year, the weekend after Thanksgiving, my family would go to a Hallmark store and pick out a new ornament. I almost always picked something with a cat-I was literally obsessed with cats as a kid, no joke. We probably had over 150 ornaments, but my favorite by far was one that hung on my grandmother’s tree. It was a little green and white knitted cube; and when you squeezed 2 corners together it would open up and surprise you with a Hershey kiss. I knew it was in there. But it always made me smile. When we lived in Massachusetts, we always had Christmas in that one room in the house your family never uses except for on Christmas. I remember half the room was full of presents! (And I know my memory isn’t foggy on this one here…because I have 7 years of proof with the piles of presents Mimi and Poppi bring for Liam and Rowen each Christmas.) But out of all the presents under the tree, my fondest memories are the stocking stuffers: all the simple things like the toothbrushes and toothpaste, and the candies like the mini folding book of Lifesavers, and the M n M-filled candy canes. Oh! And the tin of popcorn-3 different flavors-butter, cheese, and caramel-kinda gross, but OH SO GOOD! I even remember loving this little sleeve of sticker/press on earrings I received (which was REALLY strange because I had pierced ears, oh well! Go figure-it made me happy!) One year, on Christmas eve, my dad set up the video camera on the tripod and he called us over to the corner of the room to explain his masterplan to us. He figured out how to “catch” Santa. Right before bed, he would hit record and whenever Santa came down our chimney, we would have it on tape! Bright and early the next morning, my brother and I raced down the stairs hollering for my dad to come check the video camera. I cannot remember another time I was more excited. I already had it planned out which friends I would share the evidence with first. But when my dad went to replay the tape, it was all black! He forgot to take the lens cap off! “DAD!!! SERIOUSLY?!?!?!” He was “disappointed”, so were we, but oh well! On to opening presents! When we lived in England, Christmas found some new traditions such as Christmas crackers! At dinner we would pull apart the cylindrical cardboard containers. Pop! Out would fly a little toy and a paper crown, which of course we would have to wear for the rest of the night. And birthdays were no less exciting. My mom used to make the best cakes. She would hand pipe me a Barbie cake and my brother a Ninja Turtles cake. They came out amazing! I loved it so much and I would ask for it year after year. So, when my little Liam turned 2, I knew exactly what his perfect cake for would be: a hand piped Thomas the Train Engine cake. I bought the cake mold, the cake decorating kit, the food coloring. I was pumped! I was going to make the coolest Thomas cake ever, and I would do it every year for him if he liked it as much as I did. After 5 minutes of piping, HOLY CRAP! I wasn’t even a 10th of the way done and my hand was already cramping. “Mom! Help!” I called out the kitchen window into our backyard in Queens. No….I know what you’re thinking. I did NOT ask my mom to finish the cake. Come on, I thought you knew me better than that! I put my mom on greeting duty. The party was starting in about an hour and I just wasn’t sure when I’d emerge from kitchen; I only knew it would be cross-eyed and with a contorted right hand. The funny part about being a parent and working to create happy memories for our children is we so quickly forget that joy is never found in the big grandiose gestures, but rather the small, seemingly insignificant details. I don’t remember any of the cool gifts I got as a kid; I mean, I’m sure I would if I really pushed my memory to conjure something up, but when it really comes down to it, the gifts just don’t matter. I constantly worry that I’m not doing enough to create joyful experiences and happy memories for my children, but the truth is, they find comfort, joy and laughter in the simplicities of celebration traditions: Singing Happy Birthday Blowing out the candles Finding which shelf the Elf jumped to next Decorating the Christmas tree Watching Holiday movies Reading bedtime stories And the everyday snuggles on the couch This is where happiness is fostered. These are the memories that will forever remain warm in our hearts. So if you find yourself worried you won’t get it all done or your holidays will never be as good as the ones you remember as a kid, just take a minute to remember what made those holidays so special for you. And spend your time doing more of that. Well, that’s it from me this week, folks. The spiel might have been a little longer than normal, but it’s been a while since I got mushy on you; I was overdue, so you had it coming! And for a little extra proof that the holidays don't have to be “perfect” for you to come away with awesome memories, take a look below at some of our previous years' Christmas cards! Hope you enjoy!
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