Strangely enough, this Christmas season has been one of the least stressful of my adult life. We remembered to budget for Christmas this year (we completely forgot last year), so there was money for presents, decorating, and baking. I also decided that I wanted to be done the present shopping by the end of November. I didn't quite make it, but it made for a pretty relaxing December. I highly recommend that goal: I'll be doing it again next year.
In December I did a lot of baking with Bryn, who is a really good helper. She's awesome at cutting out sugar cookies, and loves to stir anything. We made fudge (3 batches, one of which was so bad we had to throw it away), 4 pans of Nanaimo bars, 3 batches of sugar cookies, shortbread, and peanut brittle bowls. Plus we made cookies for Santa with Bryn's cousins. I love Christmas baking. I should have taken more pictures - maybe next year. And next year, an Aunty Jo's Fabulous Nanaimo Bar tutorial!
But for this year, I'm ready for Christmas. My kiddies are all tucked into their beds. They won't stay asleep all night - at least Henrik won't. He never does. But they're asleep for now, and that is wonderful. In fact, as I've been writing, he's woken up and put himself back to sleep. For the third time in the last 2 hours. Ugh.
We followed a tradition from my family, giving each of the kids Pajammies (as Bryn sometimes calls them) for Christmas, having them open those gifts tonight before going to bed so they can wear their special PJ's to bed tonight. Arvid picked Bryn's out - he did a great job!
Merry Christmas to all!
