Christmas is coming! PANIC!

 Christmas is just around the corner, our first with the little one. 

As far as I was concerned, it was Christmas as usual, I would cook Christmas dinner, we decorate the house and tree, and overspend on each other, just with more focus on overspending on her. 

I had my Christmas baking all planned out, from traditional family cookies to Ukrainian treats for my partner and his family. I knew what dishes I was going to make for dinner and when they needed to be prepared in advance. 

What could go wrong?

Well, We have a 5-month-old, who while can be left alone to roll around on her playmat for a short time, we have a 5-month-old who cannot be left alone for any length of cooking and baking time. She does enjoy her high chair, so I sat her in it with a few toys, and had her with me in the kitchen. "Ok, cooking lesson 1!" I talked to her, explained to her what I was doing and why, and this lasted for a whole 5 minutes before a diaper change was needed and a bottle. Ok, I can't have the stove or oven on in case she falls asleep on me,,,, don't want anything to burn. Ok, I will prepare doughs and other things, so when my partner comes home, he can watch her while I cook. But I also have to cook dinner, so that will take up some of the stove and oven space. And everything will be different cooking temperatures and times, so that won't work either. 

Plan B, prepare what I can wait till the weekend. 

The weekend comes around.... My Partner gets called into work, it's their busiest time and getting busier. He's a truck driver so this will also mean longer hours with the snow and road conditions. So... Might have to rethink the baking and cooking, scale back a bit? 

We have managed to get the tree up, took longer as we worked in shifts to play and interact with our daughter and to keep her from rolling in the way. Like, it took three hours instead of one, and I was cooking dinner at the same time. 

Plan C, Christmas will be done over two days instead of one. His family one day, mine the next. His family will be treated to brunch, with the most adventurous thing being eggnog french toast. Mine will have a baked ham, salad, and some roasted veggies. 

Cookies and treats, well, there is always next year. Walmart has a good selection of premade treats. Now, all we have to focus on is the overspending and finding time to wrap without each other seeing, and her getting into the paper and tape and without the cats destroying the tree.  

There is always next year, right?

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