Enjoying the Holidays (and not rushing through them)!

As the children get older, work gets more demanding, and my extended family moves further away the demands of the holiday season can get overwhelming at times.

This year I'm trying my hardest to just enjoy the time that I have with my family.

A stolen few moments at the local park with the boys...

Time with my parents (even if we bore my dad to sleep)...

And play dates with neighbors that my boys adore...

I'm not stressing about giving 20 holiday presents to my co-workers, but I am sending a hand written personalized card to them. I'm not going to spending 2 days in the kitchen baking holiday goodies, but I'm going to enjoy the 2 hours I got to spend with the kids on Sunday morning baking one batch of cookies. The kids aren't going to have fifteen presents each under the tree this year, but we've picked out five presents that they will LOVE!

We're still going to find time to do some of our family traditions like having a nice Christmas Eve dinner at the house, going ice skating, and driving around at night through downtown looking at the Christmas lights. I know that these moments that we spend together are going to be the memories that the kids have as they grow up.

(And, to be honest, Santa is bringing Owen a Nintendo 3DS, and he's getting an iPod from his grandparents, so it's okay that there a fewer presents under the tree.)

Happy holidays everyone!