Whew! Christmas is over. If you have seen the movie Four Christmases, that is a general summary of what Christmas looks like for us. For three days this year (Sunday-Tuesday), we ran from house-to-house to celebrate with everyone, often looking at the clock to make sure we left in time for the next celebration.

Feeling short on time is a common theme for us during the holidays, but I felt extra short on time this holiday season as we have been trying to find a new groove at home with two kids and prepping for Christmas. I am generally the one who does all of the Christmas prepping and shopping. My husband offers to help but my type A personality likes to do it myself and complain about how I have to do everything. Ah yes, the joys of being married to a type A personality.

Part of my prepping for Christmas this year was purchasing an Elf on the Shelf for our toddler. We told our toddler that the Elf reports everything to Santa and bad behavior would result in Santa not coming (aka no gifts). I thought this would be the perfect thing to get him on his BEST behavior. Pretty sure he called our bluff and he is only two-years-old. AWESOME, the next 16 years should be fun.

During the three days of Christmas celebrations I felt so conflicted as a parent. Our toddler had finally started to understand the magic of Christmas, baby Jesus, the excitement of Santa and giving gifts to others. Which was so fun to see! But at the same time, I felt he was starting the “terrible threes” right at the most magical time of the year. My friends and coworkers have warned me that it is the “terrible threes” not the “terrible twos.” So far I would have to agree as twos have been a breeze which included our son being fully potty trained (over night).

After our toddler’s three day sugar and gift high from Christmas, I counted down the hours and minutes until he could just go to bed and get back in a normal routine. Hoping that the not listening and talking back would stop. I am sure wishful thinking on my part, “terrible threes” are probably on the horizon for us.

There were multiple occasions over the last few days that having our toddler live in a timeout with no gifts had crossed my mind more times than I could count. That didn’t happen, but clearly those types of things would propel me mom of the year.

So last night as our toddler fell asleep and the newborn shut his eyes for his first nap of the night. Yes, no sleeping through the night yet here. My husband and I jumped into bed in hopes of falling asleep as quick as we could knowing the timer had started for our newborn.

As I laid in bed it was like I heard the ticking from the 60 minutes show, in addition to my husband’s snoring and the baby’s sound machine. Christmas was over in the blink of an eye. All the prepping and running around was over. Although there were times over the last few days where time literally felt like it stood still as our toddler tested us, there were also so many magical moments where he smiled bigger than we have ever seen him smile. A small part of me that was sad Christmas had come and gone so quickly, but ready to get back into a normal routine.

I recently read a blog where a mom declared December 26th “mom day off.” With a toddler and newborn, there is not really a way I can take a full day off but I did get a chance to hit the gym for a few hours. I take what I can get these days, even a few hours off can be refreshing.

Christmas has come and gone. Maybe too slow or too quick depending on the time and day you may ask me. I think the recent SNL skit with Matt Damon summarizes Christmas perfectly. I can only imagine our future Christmases as our boys get older.

For now, I am going to look at plane tickets for next year’s Christmas, and put the luggage my husband got me for Christmas to use. I may or may not take the kids, I may or may not take my husband. Destination TBD.