Holiday Kids

Kids back at school today after a week off. I have a whole new sympathy for teachers or anyone else who works with children who has to try to wrangle them after a week (or more) of being off schedule. I suppose professionals have tricks and experience I’m not privy to. But yeah, the struggle is real. 

The good news is I survived a full week of full time momming, cooking Thanksgiving for eight with no kitchen, and entertaining visiting relatives without screaming in anyone’s face “I’m trying to make your holidays fucking magical!!!” despite occasionally feeling the urge to. 

I had a gig the night before Thanksgiving at which I was able to retrieve a set of Fiesta Ware a friend sold me earlier that day - I had been debating about getting new dishes for the new kitchen but wasn’t sure which direction to go; I’m kind of over the plain white dishes I bought when I moved here in 1993. I think this set will add a nice pop of color to an otherwise subdued kitchen palate. And let me tell you how the serving dishes and extra flatware saved the big dinner!

We had a nice day at Huntington Gardens, saw the lights at Descanso Gardens, drove up Mt Wilson, decorated the house for Christmas. It was a busy and exhausting weekend. The boys’ energy was off the charts. This is something I also now get as a parent that I never understood before - those whiny, bratty, combative kids you see around the holidays that make you never want to spawn? Yeah, those kids are not like that all the time. These are Holiday Kids - hopped up on sugar and presents and new people and no structure or schedules. They’re a hot mess. I’m a pretty regimented person and even I struggle to keep the kids in any normalcy during these times. At least over Christmas break they have winter camp most of the days. By then I will have returned from my trip, I’ll be grounded for four months, the kitchen will be wrapping up, and everything will be better. 

Two holidays down, one to go!!