holiday wrap up

tuesday:

my goal was to finish last minute shopping (stockings), grocery store and clean the house. done. i even invited my mom to go shopping w/ me. i know, i don't know what came over me either. but it was perfectly nice.

tuesday night we went to the festival of lights. seriously awesome and we do this most every year. however, we've never waited until this late in the year to go and we won't wait this late again. it took us (once we got there) about 3 hours. way too long in the car. but, i love the lights and it's always fun to see if they've added anything new. for light lovers i really would rate this a 10.

christmas eve:
the hubs had to work a few hours in the morning, then he came home and prepared the turkey for the infrared cooker. i have to say, that thing is awesome. the bird is moist, cooks faster, and frees up the oven. the family was coming around 2pm so i did some last minute prepping, baked some more cookies, the hubs baked a cake, i made some more chocolate covered pretzels and we were ready.

i have to say i was quite proud of the boy and girl. they knew the adults (meaning me and my sibs and our spouses) were not gifting each other this year. the girl knitted scarves for all the adults and the boy made each adult a poster. on the giant poster board paper. he tried to do each poster w/ things he knew that person liked or described them. for example on my sil's he put a teddy bear (she collects them) and chocolate chip cookies; on the bro's he had a computer w/ an error on the screen (he's an IT guy) and a football. then, for those he didn't know as well it was generic, but still nice. flowers on the sister's and then for her hubs, jose, a sombrero and chili peppers. when i first saw it, before everyone got here, i panicked. omg. he'll be offended. but, everyone thought it was cute and all the adults made the appropriate ooohing and awwing and it was good.

after everyone left we watched the little drummer boy (the hubs' fave holiday movie) and the kids opened what apparently has unintentionally become their traditional christmas eve gifts from us--pajamas and a book : ) we've done this for a couple of years so it is now expected.

the kids went to bed and we waited for them to go to sleep to do all the santa stuff. this is the first year i wrapped all of their santa gifts ahead of time (usually the hubs and i do this together after the kids are asleep) and it made things a lot easier. we stuffed stockings and watched a little tv and went to bed.

christmas day:
at FOUR IN THE MORNING the kids are at my bedside w/ a tray of coffee. FOUR AM. i expected early because the boy still believes in santa, but not 4 a.m. early. the girl apologized. i later got the back story from her. the boy woke her up at 2 a.m. and they came out and looked at the loot and debated about what was in each package and looked at their stockings and then watched tv until the girl said she couldn't delay the boy any longer. that's when she made coffee and woke us up.

they opened their presents and then left the room so we could hide the pickle ornament on the tree. (another tradition). whichever kid finds the pickle gets a little present. typically the pickle present has been a movie or something for both of the kids. this time the hubs was devious. their "big" present was the pickle present. so, when the girl found the pickle and got her video camera the boy was all like, wtf? that's an awesome pickle present. then i pulled out his gift (digital camera) and all was right w/ the world. i did not realize the down sides to kids having tech stuff. first, i had to figure out how to work each thing to show them (yeah, they're about as good at reading manuals as i am). second, they don't care what you look like or what you are doing, you are fair game to be photographed or videotaped. nice.

the hubs and i opened our gifts to each other and from the kids and then high-tailed it back to bed. i really was feeling queasy from being up so early. the second time we got up we piddled around w/ our gifts; the girl and i watched mama mia (i got it for christmas) and the boy and hubs promptly fell asleep. we woke up, i made a ham, we ate, lounged, i napped, lounged some more then it was bedtime. we had a great, lazy christmas day and i think everyone was pretty happy.

today the hubs is working, though hopefully getting off early. the kids and i went out shopping a little. i finally, after about 6 years of saying i would, bought a new tree on sale after christmas.

tomorrow we're going to my aunt's for a surprise 80th bday for my grandma and then it's a week off for the kids, the hubs and me. whoot whoot.

and what did i get for christmas you ask? : ) well, the hubs and i set a limit on what we are allowed to spend on each other and i actually like it this way. i'm not an extravagant gift person, meaning i'm not one of those women who wants bling or something chic, etc. the hubs puts a lot of thought into my gifts. this year he actually finished his shopping before me, which is a record. he got me my usual (which i have to have or christmas just isn't right for me--crayons (120 pack) coloring book, slippers and pjs) plus a stephen king book, mama mia dvd and cd soundtrack, a marshall shirt (my alma mater--which i have nothing from; my bro, who didn't even fucking go there has more paraphernalia than i do; my mom got him a freaking marshall book bag for christmas) and paul thompson's solo cd, which he had to order because he couldn't find it in any of our stores. it's not here yet, but it will be any day. the girl got me flavored coffees and the boy got me a heart-shaped pin : )