As planned, we did the annual R Family get together on Saturday night. This year actually wasn't so bad! The key Grinch was missing so that took a lot of the pain away. The food was good, the kids were great, and I actually got a White Elephant that I wanted, so that was just a bonus!
Christmas celebrations with my Dad went well. The birthday fiesta was a huge hit and I felt glad and really not so much stress! They got us new gorgeous dishes (a great thing since our others were OLD and UGLY and mostly missing since I dropped a huge stack of them on the floor two weeks ago and they shattered into a gazillion pieces) along with a couple of other small things that B and I needed. The kids, of course, made a haul with new games and toys and artsy stuff. It was a lovely visit and they'll return tomorrow morning so that we can spend time together before they leave town. I'm thinking a game of Twister is in order.
After they left and we put two excited boys to bed, B and I went to the garage for some adult time and then came in for Wrap Fest 2006. I grossly under estimated the amount of paper we would need for wrapping everything but fortunately we found some old paper in the basement and the attic. WHEW! While I may have goofed that up, I was thrilled to see that everything we got them came in a box already so there wasn't any need for bizarre wrapping and creative uses of tape. SCORE! We shoved all the presents under the tree, filled the stockings and ate Santa's cookies (B) and Rudolph's carrot (me,) and sat down to exchange gifts.
He opened his first and probably sprained some sort of muscle acting all excited. I cannot imagine it was very exciting for him - I only got him what he asked for, but whatever. He's a guy. An upgrade on the belt sander was a bonus, I guess. It really seemed to me (and he agreed later on) that he was more excited about giving me my gift than he was to receive anything.
So I get ready to open the big heavy box and my affliction struck again - nervous laughter. I don't know when this started exactly or what sparked it, but for the last couple of years, whenever I get nervous in a good way, I start laughing. No, I start cackling. Perhaps Braying would be a better word. I'm not sure what you want to call it, but I usually laugh so hard I cry and wet myself and end up in outrageous hysterics all in anticipation. Such was the case Sunday night. Finally I opened the gift and was so thrilled to see that it's a printer. Oh wait, it's not just a printer. It's a scanner. And a copier. And a printer. OH yeah, AND it's not just a document printer - it's a PHOTO printer. Oh and it doesn't even need my computer to edit and print photos. It's gorgeous and I tested it out this morning and it prints photos better than I have gotten in YEARS and YEARS. Seriously, I had some prints made to take with me to CA in October from digital photos. I made a print off of one of them today using the same digital image and the print that I made on my printer is more clear than the one that the professionals did. YIPPEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Did I mention that it prints those 4x6 photos in, oh, 12 seconds or less?
And it does 33 documents a minute?
I'm a happy woman.
Christmas morning was full of the usually hoopla. The boys actually slept in but when they awoke and found all their goodies (they got some that they had wanted for over 9 months,) they were appropriately thrilled. Breakfast of home made whole wheat pancakes with pure organic maple syrup filled us up for the trip to the in laws. It was lovely there, as well. My SIL looks so lovely at 6.5 months pregnant and my BIL is just proud as can be. B's folks always do Christmas right, so the boys got a boat load of awesome toys (seriously - amongst tons of other goodies, they got a remote control T-Rex and two amphibious RC trucks that are so freaking cool, I wanna play with them constantly.) I got some great kitchen things, B and I got movie tickets for a date night, and we both each got a dollar bill that has a 1 and some zeros after it. Clearly we all did well in the present arena, but it was the company that was wonderful. I just love my inlaws. I complain about them, but I adore them.
Today I clearly spent all day sorting, organizing, and finding a home for everything, but I'm thrilled to say that it's done! This is good news because we have another Christmas Friday night with my Mom and siblings and we're gonna need more room. This is always fun because there are 5 kids, 5 adult kids, and Mom. I'm looking forward to this year especially. Whew - just a few more days.
I hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas and are filled with the love and hope and peace (especially the PEACE) that is part of the season. Let it fill you up till you bubble over.
Cheers!
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