Christmas thoughts

It’s Christmas Eve, early in the morning. Today will be a chaotic day from end to end, and I’m almost reluctant to launch myself into it, knowing when the dust finally settles that Christmas will be more or less over.

The boys and I are taking the bus downtown to my work (an adventure in itself, their first ride on public transit!) and Beloved will join us later for the office children’s Christmas party, complete with a visit from Santa himself. I have to make one last stop at the Rideau Centre, which promises even more chaos. Then home for an afternoon visit from my entire side of the family – fourteen or more of us, crammed into my little townhouse! – which will meander its way into our traditional Christmas Eve gift exchange after dinner.

I’m so lucky to be at the centre of this family. I remember the Christmases when my brother and I were young adults, and there were no children racing through the house on Christmas Eve. Though it was always wonderful to be with my family, the extra joy of my two kids, plus my brother’s two, plus my cousin’s six year old, will fill the house with the kind of blissfully crazy energy that only kids hepped up on Christmas overload can generate.

I hope to cram in one more post before Christmas, but just in case I don’t get around to it — Happy Christmas (or just Happy Tuesday, if that’s your preference) to all of you, and your families. May happy chaos be the order of the day!

Related posts (automatically generated):

1. My baby brother When I posted last week about being a lifelong Rush fan, kgirl asked if I had a cool older brother, because it’s been her experience that girls who are Rush fans usually have cool older brothers. Nope, not me. I have a cool younger brother. Sean is five years younger...
2. Five things that are making me happy this Christmas I have to tell you, I love the (relatively) new category I’ve added of “5 things.” On days like this when I’ve got a handful of half-baked ideas that just won’t come together, or when I feel like chatting with you but can’t get organized enough to assemble a coherent...
3. Holiday countdown! With the last of the leaves of the season finally (mostly) raked up and bagged, I could finally turn my attention to decorating the porch this weekend. I swear, I have as much fun (and take as much time!) decorating the porch as I do the inside of the house....
4. The Christmas Eve Photo Project 2010 Last Christmas, inspired by Andrea, I took one picture each hour from 8 am to 8 pm on Christmas Eve — the Christmas Eve photo project. And I loved the results. This year, since we’re having a quieter Christmas (my brother’s family only joins us every second Christmas) and because...
5. We called him Lucas Sawyer, but his real name is Chaos The word chaos keeps creeping into my life lately. A friend recently asked me if the jump from two kids to three was really that much of a change. After I finished snickering, I replied, “You know how with two kids, life can have these intensely chaotic peaks, with streches...