Christmas Hangover

Posted December 26, 2016 by Prairie Wife - 2 comments

It’s the day after Christmas and it’s time for my family’s annual Christmas Hangover.

No, I’m not talking about the kind caused by indulging in too much eggnog (though Santa DID bring me a bottle of Patron Silver) but, the effects are somewhat similar.

Sluggish and tired, cranky and irritable…around here the day after Christmas is often a bit of a mess.

Around here Christmas Eve and Christmas Day itself is filled with fun and traditions.

Christmas Eve festivities include…Making cookies for Santa (and eating the extra). Making cinnamon rolls from scratch and chili. Facetiming friends and family the world over (a lengthy chat with Mary Poppins and Nan made our day). Working with the Cowkids to wrap their carefully selected gifts for each other. Attending mass and visiting with friends. Eating and story telling and the mad dash for bed when we hear Santa’s sleigh bells….followed by more gift wrapping.

Then we have Christmas morning,  which if you follow us on Instagram, you know ours started at 4am around here.

This is followed by the absolute joy of gift opening (there is more about what The Cowboy got me in a minute) and frantic toy assembly. This process alone is enough to drive parents to drink. Mathematically it works like this…take 5 kids times 6 toys a piece (4 from siblings 1 from parents and 1 from Santa) which equals 30 boxes…and roughly 20lb of plastic and 543 wire and rubber ties.

Then we have the few moments of quiet while they play with their gifts followed by the “It’s mine!” “I just want to see it!” “It’s new you’re going to break it.” “No you can’t have it!”

Perhaps it’s only my kids that loose that warm feeling of Christmas joy about 2.3 seconds after they play with their  gifts, but I doubt it.

Then we have the chants of “It’s Christmas, please share.” “Be kind!” “Really you’re going to act like that today?” all while trying to create a delicious feast filled with love and good feelings.

After the meal is eaten the Cowkids are once again renewed with vim and vigor. This year we were surrounded by 35 mph wind and a blizzard so we were unable to kick them outside.

Our priest came to enjoy Christmas with us (a choice I feel he may now regret) and the Cowkids burned off their energy by asking him non stop to play lazer tag. He kindly agreed and the chaos was pretty amusing to watch.

A football game on TV allowed for a few minutes of calm and after our priest left (and thankfully made it home safely) we indulged in our tradition of watching The Christmas Story.

Santa brought us the game Watch Ya Mouth and you can see from the embarrassing video I shared on our Facebook Page that it’s absolutely a blast.

We sent the Cowkids to bed and then fell into an exhausted but happy sleep a few minutes later.

Thankfully today the Cowkids woke up a bit later than Christmas Day…but man were they Christmas hungover!

All that adrenaline, joy and sugar makes for a deadly combination when it wears off.

They’re picking at each other and I can tell that in about an hour I’m going to hear the first “I’m bored!”

It’s 9:00 and already just like little druggies, they’re asking if they can have cookies or a candy cane…I can see Cowboy C starting to twitch from withdrawls.

I’m tired and coming down off a sugar high myself, which is not the best combination for patient and loving responses.

Thankfully the wind has died down and we’re left with about 4 inches of snow and in some places 3-4 feet drifts. We’ll be bundling up the Cowkids and sending them out to burn off some of the naughty!

The Cowboy and Cowboy J bought me snowshoes and a heated coat. So I guess I’m feeling a bit bashful about my post last week.

To some this may be not the best gift but it’s perfect for me! For years I’ve been wanting to snowshoe but have always been pregnant or nursing (the Cowkids never took bottles) so I was unable to get away for this sport. Now that we’re done having kids, it’s finally my time to start. With a half marathon on my 2017 goal list I’m hopeful that snowshoeing will help me stay in shape through long Wyoming Winter so I won’t have to start back at square one!

The heated coat is a blessing. After my Preventive Mastectomy and reconstructive surgery this year, being cold has become an issue. Some doctors say it’s a side effect of 4 major surgeries in one year, others the lack of fat on my chest. Whatever the reason I CANNOT handle the cold. I used to be the lady wearing no coat in January and now I’ve become the little old lady in 3 layers that keeps a cardigan in the car “just in case.” With my implants shivering borders on extremely uncomfortable to downright painful so I’m ecstatic to try out this coat.

Plus, when things get too rowdy and whiney around here I can simply slip on my snowshoes and hit the snow covered prairie…it’s the gift of peace and solitude that will keep on giving all winter long!

My wish for those of you that are suffering from a Christmas Hangover is enough left overs to not have to cook at all today, a new DVD or video game to keep the kids out of your hair, and an extra long naptime followed by an early bedtime.

Merry Christmas Readers (and of course Happy Hanukah or simply Happy Holidays to all those that don’t celebrate Christmas)!

Categories: Life As It Happens

Tags: , christams hangover, Christmas, family, funny, hangover, holiday, momlife, thankful, traditions