The Thing About Christmas.

[jonesfam]

Lets face it, Christmas is really for the kids. Yes most adults enjoy it but it's really about the kids.

For many years SWMBO & I have had our Christmas taken up with de-packaging toys, un-screwing battery covers, putting in or replacing batteries, charging things, making things work, seeing why things don't work, instructing on how to operate things, consoling after things are broken, making running repairs due to all sorts of injuries, setting up sports equipment, building everything from Trampolines & timber cubbies to paddle pop stick houses, refereeing fights, cooking, serving food, stopping food fights, wrestling over sugared children, returning presents & treats to their rightful owner, cleaning up sick, disposing of masses of ripped up Christmas paper (what a waste of money) becoming expert in setting up, connecting & activating innumerable electronic games/devices/equipment, vainly trying to keep the house tidy, finding dockets for the stuff that wouldn't work, pumping up balls, adjusting bikes, trying to keep our temper & still being married by Boxing Day.

This year all but 2 of our 7 kids are teenagers & those 2 are almost there. We thought things will be so much easier/better, the kids are at an age where they can do most of that stuff themselves, less likely to kill one another & we may even get to relax a bit & enjoy the day.

So, after SWMBO cooked all yesterday today only involved activating 1 mobile phone, setting up 1 stereo, setting up 1 TV & PS4, setting 5 watches & 4 digital wall clocks, installing hooks & hanging up the clocks, setting up 4 pieces of yard sports equipment, 2 laser tag guns, inserting no more than 15 batteries, un-screwing no more than 4 battery covers, cooking 16 waffles, making 3 salads & cutting up 4 different meats cooked yesterday, 3 trips to the rubbish trailer, confiscating 2 boxes of chocolates, returning 1 mobile phone to its rightful owner, failing to stop 1 dog eating someone else's dinner, refereeing 1 fight & consoling 1 child because they did not get the full list of 182 items they requested.

At 3:30 SWMBO managed to go for a Granny Nap, at 4:30 I managed to sit at the computer, since 3:00 all the children have been occupied & quiet.

So, I can say with all confidence that as your children get older Christmas does get easier!

Now, how may years till they move out & we can go to their place for Christmas?

Jonesfam

[austastar]

Hmmm,
Drove up to the kid's yesterday PM, meal ready to serve when we arrived.
This morning rose about 7 am, went for a drive to The Nut at Stanley, walked up the track, no one else around, photographed a few soaring birds, a few grazing wallabies and some of the vistas from the track around the top.
Came back to Kid's place, snoozed till they arrived home to cook turkey, vegies etc served on the back deck.
After a few wines, pavlova and fruit it was time for another snooze despite the noise of the dishwasher and open a few prezzies.
Yep, it does get MUCH better with age.
Cheers

[bblaze]

Lets face it, Christmas is really for the kids. Yes most adults enjoy it but it's really about the kids.

For many years SWMBO & I have had our Christmas taken up with de-packaging toys, un-screwing battery covers, putting in or replacing batteries, charging things, making things work, seeing why things don't work, instructing on how to operate things, consoling after things are broken, making running repairs due to all sorts of injuries, setting up sports equipment, building everything from Trampolines & timber cubbies to paddle pop stick houses, refereeing fights, cooking, serving food, stopping food fights, wrestling over sugared children, returning presents & treats to their rightful owner, cleaning up sick, disposing of masses of ripped up Christmas paper (what a waste of money) becoming expert in setting up, connecting & activating innumerable electronic games/devices/equipment, vainly trying to keep the house tidy, finding dockets for the stuff that wouldn't work, pumping up balls, adjusting bikes, trying to keep our temper & still being married by Boxing Day.

This year all but 2 of our 7 kids are teenagers & those 2 are almost there. We thought things will be so much easier/better, the kids are at an age where they can do most of that stuff themselves, less likely to kill one another & we may even get to relax a bit & enjoy the day.

So, after SWMBO cooked all yesterday today only involved activating 1 mobile phone, setting up 1 stereo, setting up 1 TV & PS4, setting 5 watches & 4 digital wall clocks, installing hooks & hanging up the clocks, setting up 4 pieces of yard sports equipment, 2 laser tag guns, inserting no more than 15 batteries, un-screwing no more than 4 battery covers, cooking 16 waffles, making 3 salads & cutting up 4 different meats cooked yesterday, 3 trips to the rubbish trailer, confiscating 2 boxes of chocolates, returning 1 mobile phone to its rightful owner, failing to stop 1 dog eating someone else's dinner, refereeing 1 fight & consoling 1 child because they did not get the full list of 182 items they requested.

At 3:30 SWMBO managed to go for a Granny Nap, at 4:30 I managed to sit at the computer, since 3:00 all the children have been occupied & quiet.

So, I can say with all confidence that as your children get older Christmas does get easier!

Now, how may years till they move out & we can go to their place for Christmas?

Jonesfam

I found as my youngest left home, the older ones were turning up with grand kids. But that's ok as you can now send them home with their parents all sugared up
cheers
blaze

[trout1105]

In another 10 to 15 years this will all seem like a bad dream.
Yes it does get better, Eventually[thumbsupbig]

[Homestar]

Yep, youngest this year was 21 and with no Grandkids on the horizon (ever I don't think) then it was all adults - 11 of us in all at Mums place. Everyone pitched in cooking and cleaning and life was easy and a great day had.

It gets much easier, but you'll look back at the earlier Christmases fondly in years to come even though they may have been manic. [emoji106]

[DiscoMick]

Our mob are all ages, including two unborn in this pic.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181226/86fed68353beba07416852d048415cca.jpg

[carjunkieanon]

At the servo today the bloke in front of me was expressing his deep desire to just get away from Sydney, away from Christmas, away from family, and spend three weeks alone up the coast. 'In 6 hours time I'll be sitting in the _____ pub!' he said with desperation in his voice. Even fuelling the ute was taking him too long!

[Pickles2]

ALL very good "personal" feelings of Christmas on this thread.
A particular emphasis has been stated that we all have different " meanings" at Christmas, ...which we do.
In our case, we are practicing Anglicans (Church Of England,..... in old school!), so yes we have our mid night service & our Christmas Carols etc,.....BUT, in our case, Karen (Wifey) & I have introduced (and we pay for it ourselves!) a tradition that after the midnight service we provide champagne & mini Christmas cakes to get into the "spirit". We often have people there who we don't see during the year, but we all share the same joy on Christmas Eve.....it's REALLY good,....lots of interaction.
There is NO religious "bias" in this post, we all do different stuff, it's just what "We" do, & a part of what Christmas means to us. If mods decide it's inappropriate, then by all means delete it.
Merry Christmas everyone, Pickles.

[carjunkieanon]

ALL very good "personal" feelings of Christmas on this thread.
A particular emphasis has been stated that we all have different " meanings" at Christmas, ...which we do.
In our case, we are practicing Anglicans (Church Of England,..... in old school!), so yes we have our mid night service & our Christmas Carols etc,.....BUT, in our case, Karen (Wifey) & I have introduced (and we pay for it ourselves!) a tradition that after the midnight service we provide champagne & mini Christmas cakes to get into the "spirit". We often have people there who we don't see during the year, but we all share the same joy on Christmas Eve.....it's REALLY good,....lots of interaction.
There is NO religious "bias" in this post, we all do different stuff, it's just what "We" do, & a part of what Christmas means to us. If mods decide it's inappropriate, then by all means delete it.
Merry Christmas everyone, Pickles.

Busy weekend for church-goers. I preached twice on the Sunday, at one of our two Christmas Eve services, and lead the Christmas Day service - and now am writing the sermon for this coming Sunday. Delighted to hear you guys get into the 'Christ'mas spirit - I'm sure that providing food & drinks for your local gathering does help people enjoy their time of fellowship. It was zooper-doopers for the kids after the 6pm service at our church - on a hot evening they disappeared fast.

Hope you've all had a good boxing day rest!

[Pickles2]

Busy weekend for church-goers. I preached twice on the Sunday, at one of our two Christmas Eve services, and lead the Christmas Day service - and now am writing the sermon for this coming Sunday. Delighted to hear you guys get into the 'Christ'mas spirit - I'm sure that providing food & drinks for your local gathering does help people enjoy their time of fellowship. It was zooper-doopers for the kids after the 6pm service at our church - on a hot evening they disappeared fast.

Hope you've all had a good boxing day rest!
"TWO" Sermons??!!...You did well, I think our Vicar has the same sermon for our two services!
Yes, Boxing Day was good. A member of our Congregation & his wife, a couple that I've known for over 50 years, always have their "Boxing Day BBQ" in their lovely shady back garden, so that's where we went. It's only one station away, so we just hop on the train!
Pickles.

[rick130]

But some don't stop or get much of any break at all.
Our hospitals are all go so the ambos, nurses, doctors and staff are all still there.
Our police are run off their feet.
All our utilities are still staffed, emergencies attended to.
Road services, e.g. the NRMA, service stations/roadhouses, fast food places don't shut and then there are the trades/services that support them.

Enjoy the break everyone but spare a thought for those that keep things ticking over too. [emoji4]

[trog]

Given the option , I would have liked to work through and take time off later.

[DoubleChevron]

Lets face it, Christmas is really for the kids. Yes most adults enjoy it but it's really about the kids.

For many years SWMBO & I have had our Christmas taken up with de-packaging toys, un-screwing battery covers, putting in or replacing batteries, charging things, making things work, seeing why things don't work, instructing on how to operate things, consoling after things are broken, making running repairs due to all sorts of injuries, setting up sports equipment, building everything from Trampolines & timber cubbies to paddle pop stick houses, refereeing fights, cooking, serving food, stopping food fights, wrestling over sugared children, returning presents & treats to their rightful owner, cleaning up sick, disposing of masses of ripped up Christmas paper (what a waste of money) becoming expert in setting up, connecting & activating innumerable electronic games/devices/equipment, vainly trying to keep the house tidy, finding dockets for the stuff that wouldn't work, pumping up balls, adjusting bikes, trying to keep our temper & still being married by Boxing Day.

This year all but 2 of our 7 kids are teenagers & those 2 are almost there. We thought things will be so much easier/better, the kids are at an age where they can do most of that stuff themselves, less likely to kill one another & we may even get to relax a bit & enjoy the day.

So, after SWMBO cooked all yesterday today only involved activating 1 mobile phone, setting up 1 stereo, setting up 1 TV & PS4, setting 5 watches & 4 digital wall clocks, installing hooks & hanging up the clocks, setting up 4 pieces of yard sports equipment, 2 laser tag guns, inserting no more than 15 batteries, un-screwing no more than 4 battery covers, cooking 16 waffles, making 3 salads & cutting up 4 different meats cooked yesterday, 3 trips to the rubbish trailer, confiscating 2 boxes of chocolates, returning 1 mobile phone to its rightful owner, failing to stop 1 dog eating someone else's dinner, refereeing 1 fight & consoling 1 child because they did not get the full list of 182 items they requested.

At 3:30 SWMBO managed to go for a Granny Nap, at 4:30 I managed to sit at the computer, since 3:00 all the children have been occupied & quiet.

So, I can say with all confidence that as your children get older Christmas does get easier!

Now, how may years till they move out & we can go to their place for Christmas?

Jonesfam

Sounds like the perfect christmas to me :D ..... Christmas is magic while you have young kids around. My youngest is 6 .... so I dont' think it'll last much longer. The family christmas was at our house this year.... Wow that makes for a crazed .... angry ..... stressed boss women [bigwhistle] But it sure was fun. My sister inlaw gave me a pair of ear muffs for xmas .... They sure did get a good try out with excited children around [bigrolf]

seeya,
Shane L.

[loanrangie]

You've got 5 or 6 years Shane, my youngest is almost 12 so no more pretending for us.