The Party's Over...

Well, Christmas has come and gone. It won't be long and we'll be saying, "I can't believe it's Christmas already!" Funny how it always sneaks up on us. And comes faster and faster every year.

We started our Christmas festivities on Christmas Eve Eve for my family's gathering. The kids got lots of stuff. Some really good stuff and some J-U-N-K. But don't tell anyone I said that. I wish I knew what to do with not one, but TWO dog puppets that bark to the tune of "Doggy in the Window" and "B-I-N-G-O" and "Its a Small World". However, in the same gift bags with those treasures was two bags of "The Original" Gummy Bears. YUMMY! Too bad the kids like them too. Almost everything else was something we asked for or something that I had pre-approved.

My favorite moment was when I gave a "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" DVD to my sister and wrapped it up from "Hermie". No one knew who Hermie was. Do you?

I'll give you a hint. He wanted to be a dentist. Maybe I should have wrapped it up from Dr. Hermie, DMD. Do you think that would have made it a little bit more obvious?

Our family Christmas on Christmas morning was all for the kids. My 4 year old woke up at 7 and hubs was not going to be home for about an hour, so I told him to get in bed with me and go back to sleep. He laid there for about 30 seconds and said, "I'm going to play on the computer." 30 seconds after that, he came running in telling me that there were presents under the Christmas Tree! He said, "And some of them aren't even wrapped!" I managed to hold him off until everyone was awake and home. Much fun was had by all. Mostly the kids.

Our next Christmas was at my MIL's. Her parents and my SIL and her family were all there. I don't understand how they open their Christmas presents. It's a big melee. They just give out presents as fast as they can and everybody digs into them. You don't get to see what anyone gets and you don't get a chance to take any photos, because you are so busy opening up all of the presents that you have to open. It's a speed race with no winner. There are always tons of gifts wrapped. This year, my MIL seemed unhappy for some reason. She seemed to be sitting and sulking for much of the day after opening her gifts. Maybe she didn't like the kitchen faucet. Or the GPS that we got for her. Or maybe it was my imagination. I don't think anyone else noticed. I might be paranoid. After all, she is my mother in law.

And finally, we had Christmas a couple of days later at my FIL's. That was the best Christmas present for me, because they kept my two little ones for a couple of days. In fact, they are still there as I write. YAY!

Silent night takes on a whole new meaning.

Yesterday, after getting up at 10am, (yes TEN O'CLOCK in the morning!) we went to "breakfast" at IHOP where we laughed at all of the people with their children and wondered if that is what we look like when we are out with ours. Then we went to Target and immediately went to the children's clothing and the toys. Everything we bought was for the kids. What were we thinking? And last night was the grand dinner out at a swanky Italian place here where I enjoyed myself beyond imagination. Just to eat dinner out without having to say, "Get out from under the table!" Ahh. Just savoring every delicious bite. Mmmmm.

We will get them back tomorrow. Today I am cleaning and throwing things out that would never get thrown out if they were here.

Thank Heaven for Grandparents!

So how was Christmas for you?