May All Your Christmases Be...

Being married to an ED physician means that Christmas will usually not be a holiday on which we spend the whole day lounging and enjoying time with each other. This year, J has Christmas morning off, but goes to work at 2pm. Really, all kids care about is Christmas morning anyhow, so it works out pretty well. He also works until 10pm on Christmas Eve, so hopefully the elves have completed their work and Mrs. Claus is in bed by the time he sneaks in.

Instead of trying to fix a big dinner in time for him to leave by 1:30, I decided awhile ago that I'd just have a good breakfast and we'd call it a day. Part of me is sad that I won't be making pies and mashed potatoes and all the other trimmings for the ham or prime rib or whatever meat you choose for the big day. Then the other part saw people struggling under over-burdened carts today and breathed a sigh of relief. 

When we wake up, I'm going to carry on my mom's tradition of making sticky buns for us to enjoy after the presents have been opened and the sugar consumption has begun. Except instead of laboring over the dough, I'm going to steal Ina Garten's genius idea to make Easy Sticky Buns in muffin tins. (Hurry out and get some puff pastry today, because you probably already have all the other ingredients on-hand.) I also got some yummy thick-sliced applewood bacon to serve with scrambled eggs and OJ. Of course, there will be copious amounts of coffee being brewed in the french press. 

Our day would be complete. Except for one thing. I realized today that I hadn't really thought past breakfast. What? Chocolate Santas and Reece's Trees won't get us through the rest of the day? 

So, with our new home will come a new tradition. I'm going to make pizza dough and we'll have homemade pizza and ice cream sundaes and then give the boys their baths and pop popcorn to eat while we watch a Christmas movie. That is, unless the kids are totally naughty and go to bed without dinner. Which would be quite an awesome Christmas tradition in itself. Just kidding!

When I told Henry about my plan today, he was so excited. I'm really glad that they are young enough that they won't be disappointed when Jared has to go to work in the afternoon because it's just the way their life is. And, really, it's a pretty wonderful life.