As I sat in the middle of our living room floor yesterday, surrounded by crazy amounts of Christmas clutter, I looked down at my poor, tired hands, and as I did, I couldn't help but laugh...not a laugh like "ha, ha, ha" but a laugh like "hu, hu, hu".  Around two of my fingers I had strategically placed bandaids that were being used to cover some pretty intense war wounds, (and this is where I am going to leave out the part about the blister on my palm from pealing 10lbs of potatoes...ya really).  Ok so back to the bandaids...they were actually there to conceal gouges I got after battling that stupid plastic stuff inside of the boxes that my kids new Christmas toys were in!  You know the stuff!!  It's too difficult to cut it with scissors, and just a bit too sharp to tear with your hands...hence, the bandaids!  

     I spent  almost a full 12 hours yesterday just trying to get all of the "stuff" that we lugged home from our families Christmas gift exchanges, put away and organized of course... needless to say that my day was spent in much frustration.  Now before you get all "oh poor thing, they got too much stuff" on me...I asked everyone to do VERY little for my kids, and nothing for me (except a coffee maker!!! girls got to have something!)...that being said...it was still a mess.  It did get me to thinking though that as much as I love Christmas and all that it brings, I started to wonder if all of your "days after" were just as frustrating.  Misery loves company right???  So I had to ask "what is the most frustrating thing about the day after Christmas?"  And now, I'm going to share... 



"Clutter! I now have to buy things to put the things we bought in!!"

(I love the thought of Kim out buying plastic storage bins to store all of her new stuff!!)





"mind numbing exhaustion..... I have lost it twice today with my fam... at least we made it through Christmas Day without a visit from "mommy dearest"

(this is from our own EM Lindsay, couldn't leave her out...really only twice??? Hmmmmm)





"the constant clutter of new toys everywhere...even after you pick it up a hundred times."

(oh sweet Stacey...is this really any different than any other day, oh I see, the toys are NEW!!!  How many more days till those kids go back to school??)





"packaging, toys, left over desserts, decorations that need to be taken down....a bit overwhelming, very very tired. today we had a second christmas with my husband's family...I think I'm Christmased out!"

(Amy...to that second Christmas...just say NO!!!)





 And the winner of the BUOAMTT award for "best use of a meteorologist term today"...Mindy and Callee tie for their brilliant use of  "tornado" when describing their homes!!!





We wont be taking away Patricias MOTY award for this...but I think she may be the only one that could tell this story..."Using the auto clean on the oven, only to start a fire, turn it off but can't open the door until it cools. Teenager waking up saying something smells here. Now not only the the cleanup of all the celebrations but the "de-stink" of the house"





"All the Christmas decorating still being up. I've been known to take them down Christmas night...lol"

(Um...Stepanie....are you SURE you are related to Lindsay???)





"Food hangover and hating yourself for how OUT OF CONTROL you were with your eating!!!"

(Thanks for being honest Leigh...and I think I'll throw Renee's "ugh" in there that she used to describe how here jeans are now fitting!  Guess it makes setting a New Years Resolution just that much easier!!)





Katie nailed this one..."Too much trash and not enough room in the trash cans!!!"

...I can't pass on mentioning the irony of this one...I just had to let the dog out, and after he did not return in a timely manner I went to check, and found him rooting around in the overflowed trash bag that was left laying on the garage floor!!! ARG!!





And even though I had a bunch more I would love to mention, I thought I would end on this one from Rebecca...

"Knowing that the anticipation of Christmas is over and now have to wait 364 more days for that day again. And that I can no longer listen to Christmas music."





...I have to be honest here for a second and say that when I first read this (don't hate me Rebecca) I think I threw up a bit in my mouth from all the sweetness!!!  But then as I looked over at my beautiful tree still lit in all it's glory, ornament-less on the bottom (thanks to my 2 yr old) and covered in random drawings and stuffed animals (thanks to my 5 yr old) I got just a tinge of sadness that I will be unplugging it for a final time in about 2 weeks when I can finally get around to it! (sarcasm!) And you know what?  I realize that I love more than anything to be in a store when the words to the music are "Christ the Savior is born" and not "I kissed a girl and I liked it" (REALLY??)....I love driving around with my kids  in constant amazement of the gorgeous lights!    I love that my husband and mom gave gifts to others in need "in our names", and that our church feeds hundreds of people in our community Christmas day...I will miss my daughter with her daily countdown, and the bantering and sneaky remarks my husband and I have been tossing around about Santa (he's a lover, I'm the hater).   I will miss being able to justify cookies and wine I mean fudge, I will miss our stockings hanging on the wall, but mostly I will miss the people that choose to smile through the chaos and say "Merry Christmas"!!!





So to Rebecca and the rest of us, I say, keep the Christmas music playing, keep greeting each other (even if its with a "Happy Lunar Eclipse") and keep up the spirit of giving...We need each other all year long!!





We do still want to hear about your "day after' madness...so please leave a comment below!

And please keep sharing us will all of your friends!!!





And one more thing...tune in Friday when Lindsay and I give our best "how to survive New Years Eve" advice!!!

I used to turn into a raving maniac before a shindig at my house. I was an especially fine wreck at Christmas. That final arsenic hour before the first ring of the doorbell would find me ranting and racing like a sprinter to the finish line. Although I don't recall sprinters using the language I would use to inspire them to push on. My husband and children bore the brunt of my attitude only to witness me opening the door to the guests with a warm and gushing "Hello!, Merry Christmas, so glad you could be here!" I guess the family learned early on that mama had some multiple personality issues and they were only privy to my dark side.



My kids are all grown now and while I have mellowed out and even eliminated a few of the other people who have dwelled within me, I still grapple with the arsenic hour before the guests arrive. Last month on Thanksgiving in that last dark 1/2 hour before the doorbell, the turkey was refusing to brown, and I desperately needed the oven before the rising, yeasty rolls missed their window to bake at their peak. It was then I realized I hadn't freshened up all day. I was a frazzled looking mess and running up the stairs to slap on some make-up I discovered the dog had a terrible accident on the guest room carpet. I lost it. It was ugliness at its finest. I learned later our youngest son had reported to his uncle: "It must be Thanksgiving because mom is saying the "F" word." The men in my family huddled wearily out in the shop until they were sure it was safe to go near me again. We had a good laugh about it later but I still felt the shame.



I love most things about the holidays, especially the cooking and baking and decorating. But our family is large and just doing the basics is a lot of work and the basics are never enough. Last year when our daughter and her family were loading up in the car to return to their California home after a quick 3 days home for Christmas, my 7 year old grandson looked at me with a sad face and said, "Gramma we never got to play, you were always busy." This was a knife in my heart. It was also the inspiration I needed to rethink it all. I thought I was too old to be sucked in by out lying pressures from the media to set the expectation bar so unrealistically high. We all want to give our kids that Hallmark movie Christmas, complete with the snow starting to fall on Christmas Eve, even when our kids have kids of their own. 56 years later I am discovering it is an impossible dream. Last night my 5 year old grandson spent the night. We were doing our usual shenanigans that we do on a sleep-over and in the middle of our raucous playtime he stopped and said "Gramma I love..." I thought he was going to say "you" but instead he said "Christmas." This from a boy who is growing up in a home where Santa and gift-giving is down-played greatly and the birth of Christ is at the forefront of the holiday spirit. Still, while he is aware that surprises await him, his love for this holiday is about the simple things. At 5:30 this morning he went downstairs when he woke and I found him plugging in the Christmas tree lights and all the other Christmas lights in the living room. It does look magical with the twinkling lights "all aglow" in an otherwise dark house (did I mention it was 5:30?) He snugged up with me on the couch and said "Very Christmas Gramma." With that I told myself I am done with the craziness. By the time you read this it will be Christmas Eve, but it isn't too late. Take the time today. Stop, sit, play, laugh and be silly with those monkeys you mamas. They won't care or remember if the house was clean or the dinner was perfect. They won't even remember if you didn't play with them Christmas 2010. But they will remember if you did. Do as I say, NOT as I did and by the way, "VERY CHRISTMAS!"

Cindy is the official EMG, AKA: Earth Monkey G-ma. She says she's earned this title more by default than performance.  She's a 56 year old mother of 5 and gramma to 9 and her greatest achievements are her kids. She raised a blended family kind of like the Brady Bunch... if you can picture the Brady's with knives. She says, While she's far too quick with unsolicited advice, she's a fairly good example of "Do as I say, not as I did."

Check out Cindy's personal blog at: www.sawasquirrel.blogspot.com

Picture by Maria Alexandra Photography

Ahhh, Christmas time in the McPhail household... brace yourselves people, this could get ugly. Last year was the first time I had attempted to do advent activities with the boys. It was a nightmarish debacle on an on all accounts (I wrote about some of the nightmare here if you need something to make you feel like mother of the year), and I'm pretty sure I swore off ever doing another craft with my children again... or maybe I just swore... or maybe both, I can't remember.



You would think since last year's activities were filled with tears, shanking attemps, f-bombs and pooping on the floor, I would rethink repeating the same offenses this year... but I am bound and determined to make my kids remember Christmas time as being amazingly special, and magical if it kills me darn-it! Luckily my kids are easily pleased and somehow block out the crazy... and that's just enough to give me hope that this year can be better.



Every year growing up Christmas was magical. My mom just has this way of making everything fun and festive... it seemed so effortless at the time, but now I know with 5 kids and bucket loads of crazy, it was all hard work on her end, and apparently she didn't enjoy a lot of it:):) Anyway, being the "Anti-Martha"that I am makes me  the black-sheep of the family in the domestic department. The genetic code that was given to my mom and sisters that makes them naturally wonderful and June Cleavery (well, sometimes June Cleaver on Crack, but still June-Flippen-Cleavery) was not deposited in the Lindsay Bank... it seems like the harder I try to make things special, the worse it gets. Either he kids don't want to join in, or they're fighting or I didn't read the directions (shocker) and put the head where the butt's supposed to be.