{"id":1284,"date":"2008-12-22T06:08:11","date_gmt":"2008-12-22T14:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.homewiththekids.com\/blog\/?p=1284"},"modified":"2008-12-22T06:08:11","modified_gmt":"2008-12-22T14:08:11","slug":"countdown-to-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homewiththekids.com\/blog\/countdown-to-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Countdown to Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Somehow I don’t anticipate spending much time online this week. It’s Christmastime and time to relax with the family.<\/p>\n

Are you taking a break too?<\/p>\n

I got a lot done yesterday, but there’s still more to be done. No doubt most important to my kids on that list is making Christmas cookies. They like to make chocolate chip cookies with frosting on them for Santa. They don’t much care for sugar cookies, which is why we end up frosting chocolate chip ones. Who am I to complain?<\/p>\n

Yesterday was just plain hectic trying to get things done. I made a bargain with the kids right at the start: 15 minutes of decorating the tree (at last!) for 15 minutes of house cleaning. That worked really well with my daughter, not so well with my son. But what can you really expect from a 3 year old who isn’t in his most helpful mood?<\/p>\n

But the tree got done. House still needs help but it’s getting there. They’ve been warned that we don’t want Santa to trip.<\/p>\n

Then shoe shopping and other shopping with my daughter when my husband got home from work. It just hit me the other day that we still didn’t have appropriate shoes to go with her pretty holiday dress. She wore it for Thanksgiving anyhow, but pretty shoes would be a nice touch. This late in the game, the selection was pretty poor, though!<\/p>\n

Plus just a touch of other shopping to do. I’m not a fan of Christmas shopping crowds, but I did what I had to!<\/p>\n

Overall, this is a great time to take time for your family, and remember the important things. If you can do it, I highly recommend it. But even if you can’t take time off, find some way to make some special times for your family. It doesn’t have to cost money, just be together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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