Holidays

I knew I haven't blogged again in a long time but didn't realize it was so long ago !
The kids are at home for 2 weeks. My son has been in a great shape and I think I'll only be able to relax and rest when he'll be back to school.
On the last few days, I have been trying to sort up my books, and magazines and papers and craft stuffs as we will be moving in March in our new house. In the meantime, and that's the challenge, while I am busy at ly stuffs, I have been trying to reduce his TV time. It's not that he's asking for but I took the bad habit to let him enjoy 1 hour twice a day when he doesn't know what to do because I was lasy to help him entertain himself. Bad mom, I know !
His sister cannot take care of him, it's a fight after 10 minutes...or the bedrooms are like after an atomic bomb !!
On the picture, you can see my son's shoes, he was really impatient to get his gifts from Santa. We put the stockings on the fireplace and our shoes under the Christmas tree. Our tree is also a mix of both culture, you can see a Cookie Monster ornament !
Our Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas lunch was typically French with noix de St Jacques, canapés, sanglier and some bûche de Noël glacée.
I am trying to dedicate more time than usual to clean up the house but time flies really fast. When I want to take a break, it's almost (American) dinner time. Cooking 2 meals a day exhausts me and I feel like I am spending my day cooking, loading and unloading the dishwasher. The kids usually have lunch at school and my husband at work. Not very typical of families around here where half the moms I know stay at home and pick up the kids at school for lunch at home. That's nice but I don't want to be rushing back and forth and have my day cut in pieces where 2 hours straight twice a day is only what you can get if you do that.
Work has not been at the top so I worked on widening my network. I admit I took more than authorized to do home stuffs or errands but I feel like I am freaking out in the inside when my to do list is growing and when errands become urgent dozens of errands ! Maybe I am a little bit control freak but my mind is at peace when I have "check, check and check" !
For now, I still have my menu of New Year's Eve to think about. We have guests over so I need to do something quite fancy even if they are very good friends.
I do not want our dinner to be too French, like having to take a 2-hour nap after the meal...but still, French people tend to be pretty "traditionnel" about Holidays meals. My father for example cannot spend Christmas without smoked salmon and oysters.
Well, let's see what I can find in my cookbook and then, off to Picard ! (my best "crustacés et poissons" provider).
Happy Holidays !