To think christmas with small dcs actually isn't that great?

[NapQueen]

Yes their little faces at the gifts and the magic of "has he beeeen?" Is lovely but

They get overwhelmed at getting extended family gathering
They get bought craft kits which are too old for them and they want open now even if there's no space to do any
They need to nap more because it's all so exhausting
They don't want the food
They need care and attention so gone are the days of getting quietly squiffy and playing charades or articulate
They generally eat a lot more shit so have these random sugar highs and lows

I'm fucking exhausted!

"Christmas is for the kids" - only because they steal it!

And the novelty of staying with grandparents has translated to hunger strike apart from chocolate

I have a 3 and 4 yr old, opening the presents was fine...only 1 tantrum when I helped the 3yr old open 1 present. We went out for lunch and from the starter onwards they asked when we were going home. Got home and world war 3 broke out over a toy so I gave in and ordered another one from Amazon . Both are still up and the living room is a total tip but I don't have the energy to move.

This thread is for me!

3yo ds has been so excited about Christmas, and so have I. Although it turns out Christmas with a toddler isn't overly magical. It's exhausting! He's totally overwhelmed, not even looking at his presents anymore, asking me to play every 2 mins, all I want to do is sit the fuck down and eat chocolate! Thing is, I'm pretty sure that given his age, it's me being unreasonable and not him. I'm adjusting my expectations for next year

Crap TV, getting tipsy, aging family. So what? I can do that any Sunday of the year.

Any Sunday of the year? How?? You lucky bugger. The kids are still here on Sundays. Like every other day. I would literally kill for a day of crap tv and getting tipsy, child free.

X-post - I'm so sorry bean

We don't bother with a meal, and we say anyone who wants can drop in but we don't 'entertain'. The kids eat what they want when they want, we just go with the flow and drink a lot of wine until bedtime!

My two have been adorable all day. 3 and 1 so still tiny but full of happy energy, no tantrums, no fights, and lots of instances of unprompted sharing of presents. I am slightly gob-smacked, but very grateful as day to day isn't usually so easy.

I HATE Christmas with young children (2y & 1y), I'm sure I will enjoy it more when they're older but oh my god nope nope nope. Don't get me wrong we had a lovely day really but so stressful.

I don't know, when my middle dd (12) tells me I have ruined Christmas and her whole life by being me, I kind of yearn for the days when she wasn't a complicated almost teenager suffering from anxiety and generally telling me she hates me every day ().

I've spent most of the afternoon/evening sat on my best friends bed feeding 2 grizzly, teething hell-babies (twins - 8 months old) who wouldn't settle with anyone and just screamed and cried unless being fed. I had a lovely Christmas dinner 45mins after everyone else had finished and decided to call it a night at 7pm and come home. Babies turned from hellbeasts into angelic tots the minute we walked in our house and are now asleep in bed.

(But I do remember the days of trying to stick to some kind of routine when with extended family - and of trying to accommodate the dcs' food preferences).

Completely agree. 3 year old and 9 week old. 3 yo totally overwhelmed and suddenly shy alternating with stroppy. 9 week old only sleeps 1 hr max in a row so grumpy sleep deprived mum here too. We've decided no family next year just us

I've been pleasantly surprised by our just turned 2 year old twins. They didn't wake until around 6am (which is a good hour later than we've had recently) and happily opened their stockings on our bed. They understand Santa and bringing presents more than we thought they would so when we asked who had been they replied "santa, with presents"!!! we were amazed!!

They started to get tired around 10ish and my parents were coming round at 11:30 so we put them upstairs for a nap which they didn't fight, so I was able to get on with the dinner quietly (except for the background music from my new DAB radio - thank you girls!!) and they ended up napping for nearly 2 hours!!

One didn't really eat her dinner much and, although she played with the tablecloth a bit she was entertained by her cracker contents! The other scoffed down nearly 3 portions of her dinner and she was exceptionally behaved

After a walk (with their new pram and bubble mower!) around the neighbourhood, about half an hour of Jungle Book (before their attention span waned) and a 40 minute completely hyper session, the likes of which we've never seen from either of them, they went to bed with minimal fuss

DH isn't feeling festive at all and has gone to bed early leaving me with the remote control, my laptop and a glass of wine (and the kids jelly tots that I've stolen, oops!). A pretty damn good day I'd say!! We've been lucky, I know!!

Seriously I adore them but I am very excited about the future!
hahaha this is going to be my new parenting motto!

We've had a lovely day. 2yo gave us a rare lie in till nearly 8am, was very excited that Santa had been, loved opening presents and playing with some of them, had a 2 hour nap and went to bed at 7pm allowing us to get stuck in to what was left of the prosecco :D I was dreading it a bit but she was fab and I'm sad it's nearly over.

They don't want the food?!

Obviously that memo missed my one year old. He enjoyed every single bite and finished it off with a special treat of a small slice of chocolate fudge cake. He looked a mess bless him but he enjoyed it

3 year old dd ate most of the food and the cake but she behaved well anyway.

First year my daughter hasn't believed in father christmas. Can't believe we kept it going till end of primary school. This year she is so much more grown up and I do feel a little bit of the magic gone. On the upside she no longer wakes us at 5am, present opening starts at a civilised hour and we don't leave places earlier than we'd like to because of a overtired and overwhelmed small child. Def swings and roundabouts. I do think things like christmas with small kids is over romanticised.

7yo DD had lots of Lego for Xmas which was on her list but has now decided she doesn't like it anymore. She had a late night last night then up early this morning so very grumpy most of the day!
Crying and saying it was the worst Xmas ever by the end of the day.
DP in a mood and gone to bed early leaving me on my own. Happy days!!

It's been tough today! I'm a single parent to a toddler. I had to work this morning the went to my family's with my son. He hardly opened any presents, didn't eat much and no one helped me with him at all. Ended up going home early and took 1.5 hours to settle him then I've just been alone and ended up crying! It's been stressful and I'd only managed a glass of water all day as I was constantly running around after my son!

Ooh Betty Oohbetty that sounds properly shit.

Have you got the next few days off work?

NapQueen
I'm not back in til Tuesday but I have a 15 hour shift and I'm also in all new year!

Tomorrow will be better though as I'm with helpful family

My 8yo has been stunningly lovely today. It does get better!!

Last couple of years would probably have been great too but last year we moved house on the 23rd and the year before was our first Christmas living abroad and it just felt weird without loads of family to visit. We've got more used to that now. Actually it was pretty good when he was 5 too but we were staying with family then so it doesn't count really!