Another Suggestion: Stay Home and Lock the Doors

A couple of Christmases ago, when Jackson was 3, he had one of his biggest tantrums ever at my in-laws' house — the kind of meltdown that you'd try to describe to people but they'd never believe it until they saw it.

That year, everybody saw it. I don't even remember what started it; it was probably time to leave and he was being a little prick about it, as he usually was (and on the thankfully rarer occasion, still is) when it's time to depart. It was screaming, kicking, thrashing...all the elements of demonic possession.

I don't know whether the Christmas season exacerbated Jackson's mood, but apparently, your holiday-of-choice pressures do affect your kids.

This helpful article on SouthCoastToday.com has a bunch of helpful suggestions for making this week (and, perhaps, beyond) a little easier on your children and yourself.

The main thing, the article says, is that despite all your efforts to produce the perfect holiday experience for your children, they probably won't care if things don't all go according to plan.

It's like how, every year, I plan to have the presents decorated with elaborate ribbons and bows, but when it's time to wrap all the gifts (sometime around December 24), I'm in no mood for frills as I try to find the best way to wrap a box shaped like two spheres and a rectangle. Would the kids enjoy the bows and ribbons? Perhaps, but in the end, who really gives a shit?

One of the other suggestions, kind of a no-brainer unless you're really thinking about it, is to actually assemble/install batteries in/set up those gifts before they're unwrapped — which is why my father's spent most of this weekend putting together Sasha's Disney Princess Keyboard Vanity ("The thing has 12 screws!") while I've been "testing" the new Wii for the past three weeks.
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