I did it. I put up our Christmas tree! It’s not a wonderous site to behold. I wish I were more of a Pinterest/ Homes and Gardens type of person, but I’m more Amazon and duct tape. I did manage to really give my best attempt though, and even though it’s ugly, it gave me a sense of accomplishment. Not to mention a must needed distraction from my teenager’s recent poor choices. I use to put my tree up the day after Thanksgiving. Last year we started our new blended family alternative schedule, and we had no children for the Holidays. Many pant less and pizza days happened. This year I get all of my Children, except one, which means I’m going to have to photo shop him into our cards that will never get mailed out.

This year the husband and I set a budget for each child. I’m very happy to say I was able to(mostly) stick to it. Everything was bought via Amazon or another online venue this year. That’s not any different than most years for me though. I returned home from my last two deployments in December. The slew of Amazon boxes that were piled upon my doorstep, much to the dismay of my roomates, was impressive. I’m sure USPS and UPS hated me. Again…not much has changed. Some day I may venture out to the department stores with the rest of the “normal” shoppers who enjoy doing so. Probably not.

The only thing I’ve made an effort to do differently this year is not wait until the last minute AKA night before Christmas to wrap gifts. I’ve been wrapping as they arrive. I even take my time and make creases, rather that let them appear as though a velociraptor taped them up. For me, this is huge.

I have ONE child left who believes in Santa. Up until recently, I thought he had figured it out. I was soooo wrong!

We recently drove our kids down to Florida to stay with my mother for a few weeks. As you may know, my husband has been pulling double duty with work and virtual school. Also, our 12 year old is really struggling with the virtual platform. More on that later…but we decided everyone could use a break. My mother is a single woman, with a few health concerns, and she’s been mostly isolated/at home this year.

Two days after my Husband and I returned home my mother calls. She informs me that our 8 year old is asking about Buddy the Elf. Now, a few years back I’d say my Elf on a Shelf game was on point. I went all out, most nights, and it was a lot of fun; until it wasn’t. Buddy became low priority and the kids seemed to lack interest more and more each year. This summer, after Buddy had been laying on a shelf in the dining room since last Christmas ( oops), my son declared him to no longer be magical, took him outside, and tossed him onto the roof of our backyard shed. Where he remains, even as I type this.

Now, I have a pretty awesome Mother who at this point had already ordered a new elf to her house. Now all I have to do is go get Buddy from the roof. Obviously, I’m in a big rush to do so. I’m also looking forward to seeing pictures of all the fun, creative ideas my Mother is going to come up with for Buddy, especially since she was never subjected to Elf on a Shelf while we were growing up. I’m sure her Elf won’t be nearly as much of an alcoholic as mine was.

How has Christmas been different for you this year? Do you have kids who still believe in Santa? Is your Elf game Pimp AF?