UBC Motherhood - Christmas

I know it's July, and it's hot and humid outside, but I feel Christmas deserves a chapter in the context of motherhood. 

The Holidays take on a new meaning once you have kids, don't you agree? You want to create magic and it makes you happy to see their sparkling eyes and excitement. 

If your own childhood Christmas memories were not all that Hallmark-like you want to create your own tradition and keep things full of joy and harmony.

In order to keep it real, let's also admit that preparing for the Holidays with kids is stressful. They don't get the concept of "ornaments are no soccer balls", and waiting for the next day to open the advent calendar gift seems impossible. It's also a good idea to not take them to the mall for Christmas shopping.

On the other hand going to the mall in December has always been one of our favourite things to do. Colin was always very excited about the gigantic Christmas trees with thousands of lights.

What turned out to be not that great of an idea was the following, even though my intention was comprehensible:

Colin was four years old and up since 5am on Christmas Eve. Hubby went to work, and it was up to me to get everything ready for a nice dinner to which my parents were coming over. It was impossible to get anything done. He was too giddy. Running around, shaking gifts in order to guess what was inside, playing with delicate ornaments, you get the picture. I needed to give him something that was going to keep him occupied.

"Colin listen, let's do the following: you get to open one Christmas gift now. That way you have something to play with, and I get to do the work. Deal?"

Of course he went for the largest box.

The Playmobil police station, good choice, Lots of items to assemble, that'll keep him occupied. Or so I thought. 

"Recommended for ages 4 and up" the label said.

It was way too hard! He kept asking for my help, and I felt cheated. I was supposed to get the meat marinated, the wine glasses washed and the table set nicely!!

"Honey, you know who's really good at these things? Your Granddad. Why don't we give him a call and ask for his help?"

My Dad sure saved my butt that day!

Over the years we developed many nice Holiday traditions. Time permitting we went to see the Harley Santas, the "regular" Santa, the "Canada Store" and the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck.

The picture where I lift Colin up so he can interact with Santa is close to my heart for two reasons:

• It has been our only White Christmas so far
• Colin gave up his pacifier by giving it to Santa

Here's my favourite Holiday-themed video: 

Two.year old Colin singing Jingle Bell sRock:

Besides our fun and festive activities I always wanted to make it a point that other people did not have the means to celebrate the way we did, and every season we participated in a toy drive or similar charity initiative. 

Lastly I introduced the Elf on the Shelf. While in the U.S. this tradition has been around for decades, literally nobody even knew about it in Switzerland. After the first appearance of our elf - Colin called her Cookie - in 2012, he told his friends about it, and I found myself in need of an explanation why he was the only kid who got this cool visitor. Yes, cool, ours is not a mean spy. Ours likes to challenge and delight kids.

Over the years Cookie got a companion, whom Colin promptly named Biscuit, and together they're inspiring and surprising us every day. 

What are some cherished traditions you shared with your kids around the Holidays?

PS: this is what a little boy looks like who has discovered Mom's secret gift stash in July, it just popped up in my Facebook Memories the other day: