Page 2 | Or is Christmas with small children just a bit stressful?

Cheeseuponcheeseuponcheese · 25/12/2022 19:50

Yes! 😂4 year old Dd, amassing & magical time, but we are shattered, but generally are pretty much daily, this has gone up a level the last few days though. It’s so hard to play alllllll day.
Pre Dd, I can’t remember any stress building up to Christmas 🤷🏻‍♀️I loved shopping for presents and clothes for myself, cosy pubs to drink in, nights out..even if I was hosting Xmas dinner, it was pretty chill..how life changes!

Cantbebotheredwithausername · 25/12/2022 20:00

My DS is 15 months. I think that 20 years from now, I'll mostly remember how happy he was opening his presents, how much Christmas food he stuffed himself with and how much fun he had playing with his (much older) cousins.

I won't remember as clearly that I was so exhausted I'd either burst into tears or fall asleep when I had a minute to myself.

Original poster

Mylittlesandwich · 25/12/2022 20:10

He has gone down surprisingly easy tonight considering how nonstop he's been all day. I tried not to make a huge deal out of Christmas Eve but I think a lot of the excitement came from nursery. It was very cute and he was delighted that the reindeer had eaten the carrot. DDog helped with that. He's such an amazing little guy but my goodness am I tired.

OP posts:

Hardbackwriter · 25/12/2022 20:15

It is exhausting. But - and I'm sorry if this sounds smug/pollyannaish but it has genuinely helped me - unless you have a Duggar style horde you have so few Christmases with tiny children. I have a 4 and a 1 year old and I had my last Christmas with two preschoolers last year and I've got three more Christmases with a preschooler and then that's it. That makes me feel a bit more thankful and a bit keener to enjoy the stage I'm in. And I say this as I lie here still trying to get the little one to bloody sleep so I can go and drink wine in peace!

DashboardConfessional · 25/12/2022 20:16

My poor husband has spent about 5 hours of today on the floor, playing with a Hot Wheels snake and slime we bought our 4 year old, while I did the cooking and cleaning up. I genuinely feel I got the better end of the deal! 😁

I think it's like anything. They will look back on early holidays and Christmases with fondness, whereas your easier days will be from when they're older and slope off to their bedroom after lunch with their new game - but they might feel like a boring Sunday with extra chocolate. I know mine did from secondary and up.

bizzywiththefizzy · 25/12/2022 20:21

It is manic but the peak yrs are 4-9 it really is over in a flash . I kind of miss it but well they all grow up in the end 🤷🏻‍♀️

totallybonafido · 25/12/2022 20:23

Yep, DC are 6 and 3 and it's been a shitshow, really hard work. We got half an hour of calm peacefulness when we all sat down after lunch to watch the smeds and the smoos, but that's all. So glad they're in bed now, it was exhausting refereeing them all day and being constantly shouted at to help them play with all the new stuff

pompei8309 · 25/12/2022 20:29

Mylittlesandwich · 25/12/2022 17:48

DS is 3 and this is the first Christmas he understood the concept of Santa. In the lead up there was lots of organising etc as usual. Last night he was wired to the moon and took ages to get to sleep. This morning he was up early to open his gifts. All day he's been overwhelmed and overexcited. He's been a lot 😅.

Pre kids we had the stressful lead up then on the day we would just chill. Eat good food and watch films. I knew Christmas with kids would be different and don't get me wrong seeing how happy he was with his gifts was amazing, but my goodness it's not even 6pm and I'm shattered. DH has taken him out for a walk so I could put my feet up for a minute before we tackle bedtime with our overexcited bundle of chaos.

I was just thinking this today, mine are adults and although we had a lovely day the screaming and laughter of small children was definitely missed. Enjoy it while you have it .

DwightShrutesGlasses · 25/12/2022 20:32

It's been highs and lows with mine (6, 4 and 1). Honestly they have all been pretty wild for the past few weeks and today have had a few bratty moments but the older two have loved the presents and Santa Claus and all the Christmas day food and things.

The 1 year has cried for much of the day but she's absolutely full of the cold and miserable. She didn't care about opening her presents but her siblings enjoyed helping her.

We have a big family get together tomorrow for Christmas#2 and that will be overwhelming. 13 adults and 11 children under the age of 12. Plus 3 dogs. Thankfully we're not hosting!

Our Christmas is quite Santa/toys/presents focused given their ages, and I'd like to move away from that slightly. I love them having gifts but I'd like to incorporate a few other things into our day.

BrewandBiscuit · 25/12/2022 20:36

My son is 4.5 and we’ve had a lovely day. He’s had a couple of moments of being overwhelmed but mostly just worked his way through his toys.

Tomorrow we’ll be going out to a park to run around and try out his new RC monster truck!

(I am shattered though)

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 25/12/2022 20:38

I've never found christmas with young kids "magical". Exciting, yes, but also chaotic and overwhelming. Mine are 8 and 11 and it's still fairly chaotic and overwhelming.

I was saying today to dh all those people who say "Christmas is about the kids" are surely code wording "kids take over your christmas"

MissTiggywinkles · 25/12/2022 20:40

2.5 yr old and 5 yr old here… I’m just drinking my way through it 😂

LolaSmiles · 25/12/2022 20:44

@LolaSmiles that was my plan. But dd4 has started nursery and all they have done in December is Christmas.
Absolutely wired
I feel for you. We are fortunate that ours seem to have got the balance right so other than a couple of Christmas things in the final week, it's been quite low key.

Bim2021 · 25/12/2022 20:46

it truly is! 5yo went to bed fine but woke at 1am and didn’t go back to sleep at all. I ended up shouting at 4am and she’s been manic all day and I feel awful for shouting. This parenting lark is so hard!

thejadefish · 25/12/2022 21:41

Agreed. My 5 month old has been crying all day unless nursing or held a certain way. If he falls asleep on me and I dare move he wakes up and it starts again. Managed to get him to nap for 30 minutes and I've had the odd 5-10 minutes of him being awake and quiet here and there but other than that it's been relentless. He's still bawling now. Over tired I think but he's fighting fighting fighting sleep. Barely spent any time with my 6 year old at all been too busy trying to calm him down. Today hasn't gone how I imagined it would...

Bunnycat101 · 25/12/2022 22:02

Yup stressful and tiring. I took myself off to bed at 7.30 as I was so knackered. But you don’t get many years when they believe so it is worth it. You just have to plan and prepare in future years for it to be knackering and try and work around that.

I have said that every year I will not be wrapping on midnight on Xmas eve and every year I leave it until the last minute. I think it also depends when Christmas Eve falls. In some ways a Saturday was nice as we were both at home but we were both working all week and there wasn’t really a wind down period/time to prepare.

Letsbekindplease · 25/12/2022 22:14

Yep
it’s stressful but worth it. I have a 3 year old, currently ill with yet another bug and also a baby. Both kids over stimulated all day. Toddler has only ate chocolate and a few pigs in blankets. Both kids over tired. Both have woken up multiple times crying already. It’s going to be a long night but worth it all just to see the smiles this morning. I can’t remember what it was like to just relax on Christmas.

GordonShakespearedoesChristmas · 26/12/2022 00:36

Utterly exhausting but they're only little for a flash in time.
It really is the same for everyone. Magical for kids = work for parents.
Try it as a single parent!! Cost, work, all tackled by one parent.
I have 4 adult children. Their Christmases are still magical because they were as kids.
Worth every moment.

NoSquirrels · 26/12/2022 00:46

a very exhausting brand of magic - this is quite true!

I have 4 adult children. Their Christmases are still magical because they were as kids.
**
Worth every moment.

I also think this is true. This is our first proper year where all have admitted they’re non-believers - the pretence lasted a good while! - but the traditions you make and the ‘remember when…’ and the excitement and anticipation are all still there. I hope they last as long for my kids as it all did for me and my siblings and cousins - we all loved Christmas as older teens and young adults. Still do, tbh.

bizzywiththefizzy · 26/12/2022 00:50

One thing to remember whilst you are in thick of it , they will remember these Christmases for a lifetime , they will tell their own children about their Christmas as a child . It seems really hard now, no it is really hard work . Those memories will last a lifetime .🎄

kikisparks · 26/12/2022 06:59

We had a great one with DD (14 months) but parts of it were more stressful than usual, trying to cook and clean with a toddler under your feet isn’t the easiest! It was my favourite Christmas ever though after years of somewhat sad ones due to infertility and then last year when she was a newborn being a blur. She’s so funny and sweet, she kept going “WOW” at every present 🤣 Mainly just miss downtime and sleep though, been awake since 4 😴 DH is on wake up duty tomorrow though!

schratching · 26/12/2022 07:01

@Flowersandthorns so annoying to have someone say make the most when they're struggling.

People used to tell me to make the most of the toddler years and I'll miss them when they were in school. Yes, I miss them but I'm happier now they are.

Toxic positivity.

Caspianberg · 26/12/2022 07:11

It was pretty stress free with 2.5 year old tbh.

We don’t do a huge Christmas though or large stressful lunch that he wouldn’t have eaten. He also didn’t really know it was Christmas until we suggested leaving stocking out so he wasn’t hyped up. A few gifts only which he’s been playing with.

We also spent a large chunk of the day outside. We all get cooped up indoors even on a normal day. So fresh air, him wearing himself out 11-4pm meant he happily played with us once home and easy dinner. Fell asleep at 7.30pm as no nap

I think in general there’s too much hype all through December so many get too excited before it’s even xmas

CakeCrumbs44 · 26/12/2022 07:15

Depends on yours kids I guess, my 2 year old was a bit silly and took a while to get to sleep but was asleep by 7.30 on Christmas Eve and 8 on Christmas day. Five year old went to sleep at normal time both days as she's very routine/rule focussed 🤣 we didn't have any meltdowns but we did have quite a low key Christmas with only 2 visitors, so it wasn't too overwhelming.

MintJulia · 26/12/2022 07:41

Why do you think a lot of families develop a tradition of going for a long walk on Christmas Day. It has less to do with being together and more to do with over-excited children getting lots of fresh air and using up all that chocolate-fuelled energy.

They are much easier to settle and put down for a nap when they've run their little legs off 🙂