Christmas Ennui

• The cards are all written (earlier than usual this year - thanks to my medical leave from work). 
• The cookies are baked -- and the kids loved them so much I had to bake second (and third!) batches of each type of cookie.
• The presents are all wrapped...but in truth that's because our 13 year old LOVES to wrap presents. I prepared them sealed in a box so she can't guess the contents, she carefully (especially with her own gifts) and artistically wraps them & places them under the tree. Woo hoo! No more Christmas Eve marathon wrapping sessions for me!

We will celebrate with our extended family like every year on Christmas Eve, open presents on Christmas morning (there are fewer this year) and then we'll partake in our newest family tradition - the Christmas Afternoon Movie with the kids and my in-laws.
We started doing this a couple of years ago when we decided that one big meal on Christmas Eve was really quite enough, thankyouverymuch.
As much as I enjoyed getting out my only real china (with a pine cone pattern perfect really only for this time of the year - handed down from my maternal grandmother)...we decided a couple of years back to skip cooking for a second day in a row and instead just relax at a movie.
We all prefer this - and I think it also helps to transition from the excitement of new "things" on Christmas morning..to the fact that December 26th will come and it will be "just another day".

All of the kids are looking forward to different things this year - particular gifts, seeing their (corrected gender) name on a package, specific things they had on their wish list... but as the kids get older we sure get a lot of this scenario:

They ask for a gift card (or receive one from a family member) and they hand it to us and say: "Can I give you this $30 Amazon/iTunes/Target gift card for $30 cash?" It's especially nonsensical/annoying when the gift card has come from us in the first place.

And this year, as for us, we're doing a rather..low key or minimal Christmas. The kids know the budget is tight, we're all on board - things are okay..but after 6+ weeks of medical leave.. I'm starting to feel more than anything a sort of ennui for the days (quickly) leading up to the holiday.
Each day runs into another...and my to-do list is still there, but it's shorter.
Should I go quilt? Should I binge-watch another few episodes of 'Orange is the New Black'? Should I pull out some Thank You notes and pre-address them so the kids can send off notes right away to their Grandparents and other kind family members who are providing the vast majority of their gifts?

So, don't get me wrong..I'm immensely grateful. I'm happy for the food, the family, the traditions and the good times we are all about to have (as it's the eve of Christmas Eve today)...but for me, I feel a little less jolly and a little more excited for the next week, and the next week thereafter. For me, the coming of the New Year is what I'm looking forward to a bit more than this years' Christmas.