SarahBlackwellFiction

Merry Yuletide, and Similar

Added 2021-12-19 09:52:18 +0000 UTC

The holiday season has begun at our house!

I have a large extended family, which consists of Methodists, Anglicans, Pagans, agnostics, and several Unconfirmed, not to mention an ex who wants his own time with our child. So we have... well, not a whole season, but about a week of celebrating. It starts on the weekend closest to the Solstice, with a small, low-key celebration of the Solstice with my immediate family. We take a day in the holiday chaos to have a really calm, restful time together, with good food and no emotional pressure at all. Then, on Christmas Eve, the spawn spends the day or the evening with her dad, allowing them to have a special time of their own. Then there's Christmas Day with the extended family, the drama, the grumpy relatives etc. I bake enormous amounts of dairy-and-gluten-free cakes and cookies for this, as our family food issues make many traditional treats inaccessible.

The Christmas Week works *really* well for kids, incidentally, because a month of build-up to a Magical Event that only lasts a few hours usually leads to Massive Letdown and overexcitement. Spacing gifts out over about a week really helps. Even if you only celebrate one holiday, give some thought to spreading out the gifts over several days, giving the kid a chance to enjoy one toy/game/book/etc before the next one comes. It really helps with the post-Christmas crash.

And however many holidays you guys celebrate, I wish you a joyful celebration, time to rest, delicious food to eat and more happiness than strife in this holiday season. Thank you so much for being here with me. ✨🎄🎁🍪

And there will be a Christmas Gift, I promise, so check in then.