'T was the night before Christmas - 2019 Edition

I started the 'T was the night before Christmas posts in 2012 when Colin was only four years old, and it was hard for me to get stuff done with an excited toddler around me.

In 2013 I was sick in bed for almost a week and had to ask other busy people for help.

In 2014 hubby had eye surgery, and I had to take over client visits at the office for a while. 

2015 there were no incidents, and in the following years I got so busy doing the Elf on the Shelf thing.

It's beginning to look (and feel) a lot like Christmas when you have a chance to visit the Coca-Cola truck. It never gets old, it's just a magical thing to do. 




The ice rink attendant felt festive as well and invited Santa for a Zamboni ride.


As I spent most parts of December working, I didn't have a chance to make cookies or clean up. I started last weekend. Since we only do gifts for the kids I only had to take care of Colin and my husband's Godchild. And because I am who I am I wrapped a little something for hubby and my parents, too.

What made me most happy though was when I discovered an ad of a local pub that was asking for toy donations, Colin said he was sure he could part with some of his - some were never even opened and used, others in good condition. 

What a win/win - having your kid purge while hopefully making other kids' days!


He also had to get back into my good graces because even after we made up for his sneaking friends into the house without my permission, I got mad again. I discovered they had damaged some of my decoration items that were waiting to be placed. Not only had they broken them, they hadn't told anyone. And to be honest, I first scolded Colin who swore he didn't do anything. Only after sleeping on it it downed on my that he might in fact be not completely innocent but at least just an accessory. We talked about how one can be legally liable even if you didn't do anything yourself, and he concluded he just added one more reason not to go against my rules. That was that.


So back to Monday, December 23rd, first day of school break, and high time for a haircut. This is another thing: among his friends it's customary to slap a kid's neck after a haircut. For the life of me I can't figure out what's so funny about it, but obviously it's a thing, and the reason for only agreeing to haircuts during school breaks.

My usual hair girl doesn't work on Mondays, so we went to a walk-in place and fully expected to wait a while. For this reason we brought the iPad. Can you imagine the disappointment when it was his turn after less than five minutes?

Well, good thing there's a Starbucks within walking distance. 



Colin had a big night ahead of him. At the beginning of every national league game the top scorers of both teams are being welcomed by two young players. That night it was C's and a teammate's turn. What a feeling it must be to spend time on the ice with some of Switzerland's best hockey players. And being cheered on my 7,200 people, that's our arena's capacity, and it's usually sold out and almost full.

It was raining  and we arrived super early to make sure we could catch a parking spot in the garage. WTF, 4pm and no more entrance?



Well, we did park on the gravel lot and used the time to treat ourselves to some ice cream (the only food booth that was operating at this time of day) at the Freiruum.



Then it was Colin's big moment! He is the boy on the right wearing the "golden" helmet representing the top scorer challenge.




Back to reality at home the next day... Cleaning up the living room, decorating, cooking, and it always takes much more time than you thought, and you're always more exhausted than you'd like to be able to enjoy the evening. Yeah well, that's being a Mom I guess.




We don't do turkey at Christmas, we like our beef, and we like it low-temperature cooked. As in four hours. So it can be wolfed down within four minutes.



We had dessert, too. You can find the recipe for these chocolate chai cupcakes here.


It was a nice night, and even the traditional visit with hubby's extended family that I usually dread turned out very relaxing. 

Come December 26 the Spengler Cup began, plus hubby and son set up the miniature train, talk about happy guys!



I hope you had yourself a merry little Christmas as well - let me know below!


Comments

  1. Christmas was wonderful - we have our Christmas dinner on Christmas eve evening (family tradition) and Christmas day we got the best present of all...rain (we're in drought - sadly none fell at home but my folks were happy).

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