Christmas Detox

After the whirlwind that is Christmas around here, we always need a few days to "detox" from the excess.  Darrin and I both need to detox from all the added sugar and calories we've consumed (including my new favorite drink:  coffee with Peppermint Mocha creamer - no it isn't all natural - with homemade whipped cream).  I need to detox from my kitchen, since five solid days of cooking and cleaning dishes has taken a toll on my back and feet.  Our kids need to detox from an influx of presents and visitors and constant stimulation.  Oh, and they need to detox from their new Wii.

And then our son truly needs to detox, in the literal sense of the word, from the excess of chocolate, Stage 2 foods, and possibly even corn syrup, that I let him indulge in over the last few days.

Because no matter how strict we are about diet, even I will give in and let Ben have more chocolate cookies or ambrosia salad at Christmas time.  Today he had all the predictable results of a kid who is reacting.

Chocolate = Extreme Emotions (crying over spilled milk, drama queen)

Stage 2 = Hyper, high pitched scream, fidgety

Corn Syrup = "I hate you Mom, you are SO MEAN!", trouble focusing.

I mean seriously, I can almost predict the time and the words out of his mouth when he's reacting.  Thank goodness for magic soda (1/2 lemonade, 1/2 club soda) and the bicarbonate in the club soda that helps calm Ben's reactions.  After a dose of magic soda at 10:30 this morning, it was smooth sailing until later this evening.  By tomorrow he should be just fine.

Anyway, the reaction today was still worth it, because we had an incredible Christmas.  All of our family was home, we got to visit with everyone.  We ate great food all weekend.  Darrin and my mom and I enjoyed watching the kids open their presents on Christmas morning.  It was just perfect.

Here are pictures of some of my favorite moments of the days leading up to Christmas:

The kids playing Christmas Tic-Tac-Toe

Making Christmas sugar cookies together.  

Ben was totally into wrapping presents this year.  Not quite like
I would do it, but I was very happy for the help and let him wrap almost
all of them.  

Not wanting to be left out, Lia wrapped presents too. 

Lia with her cousins, Brooke & Kirsten, on Christmas Eve at the home of my in-laws. 

My Dad and Carrie at their house, our second stop on Christmas Eve.