Christmas Eve

The decision I made to take a break from blogging over the holidays turned out to be one of the best professional decisions I’ve made in a long time. Compared to last year, when I was stressed out and grumpy over having to be away from my computer, this year my mind was clear and I was able to truly enjoy everything about Christmas. Consequently, it was one of the best Christmases I (and my family) have had in a long time.

My Dad and Stepmom went to Arkansas to be with her mother, so instead of our usual Christmas Eve at Dad’s house, we just hung out here at home. We watched movies, played video games, and then sent the kids to bed so Chris and I could do our traditional “wrapping all the presents on Christmas Eve”. Even though we both bitch about it, neither of us ever wraps anything ahead of time, so I guess we both like staying up together late on Christmas Eve to wrap.

Oh, Chris made the BEST coffee for us to drink to help us stay up so late – a mix of Boca Java’s Vacation Villa Vanilla and Frosty Snow coffee beans, ground together, then flavored with French Vanilla creamer and a shot of Bailey’s. SO GOOD.

Christmas morning was wonderful. Nathan’s big gift was a bike, which we left sitting out in front of the tree.

I tend to buy too much for the stockings, making them too heavy to hang from the stocking holders, so those went under the tree too.

I gave Chris a list of suggested gifts to buy me for Christmas. When I saw the pile with my name on it on Christmas Day, I was shocked. He and the kids spoiled me rotten this year! There were snowman ornaments for the tree that he had bought last summer in Traverse City and kept hidden all this time, and a wonderful, WONDERFUL assortment of PERFECT gifts.

The box on the left is “Twilight Woods” perfume from Bath & Body Works, which Chris and the boys picked out together. They told me that they had all agreed that it smelled “really pretty”, and it does! The main “notes” are cedar and tobacco, and it smells amazing layered over the Warm Vanilla Sugar shower gel and lotion (also Bath & Body Works). I also got….

See what I mean? Spoiled rotten! Considering what a tough year 2009 was for Chris and I, I felt like he did more than just buy me Christmas presents. I feel like he said to me, through those presents, that he still knows who I am, likes who I am, and that everything is going to be okay.

Which is pretty much the best Christmas gift of all.

Since this is already so long, I’m going to do another post tomorrow about the kids’ gifts, and our visit to Chris’ Dad’s house on Christmas Day. Thanks for reading!

I Survived Christmas 2008!

You know what doesn’t seem fair? That stores can start putting out Christmas decorations in October, that we can spend months buying and wrapping and decorating and baking, but then Christmas itself is over in a snap. Shouldn’t Christmas itself last about a week for all the work we put into it?

My husband deserves a medal for going to Meijers (our big grocery store) on Christmas Eve morning to get groceries for dinner that night plus food for Christmas Day. He called me while standing in front of the refrigerated case that normally holds all the Pillsbury products to report that there was not a single can of Grands! Cinnamon Rolls left in the entire store. And that every one of the 25 checkout lanes was being used with people lined up waiting. This is a man who hates crowds, so he got major brownie points for that.

We went to my Dad and Stepmom’s on Christmas Eve, where we were showered with new clothes from Macy’s and Kaitlyn got this ginormous, super-soft teddy bear from my stepsister Lori:

giant-teddy-bear

Christmas morning was lots of fun, highlighted by our big family gift:

rockband-2

I guess I dropped enough hints, because I got the gift I wanted!

nintendo-ds

Plus a pink carrying case and the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass game. It was so sweet of Chris and the boys to brave the crowds at Best Buy to surprise me with it!

: Image via Wikipedia

Amazingly, our Christmas tree is holding up, even though it stopped taking water a week ago. We only turn the lights on at night and only for a few hours at a time. And as soon as Waste Management starts picking up trees we’ll put it out for them. Don’t want to have any fires now.

Today we are headed to Macy’s to exchange most of the clothes, hopefully we will get through it without killing each other or anyone else. I’m glad we don’t do anything specific for New Year’s, I don’t think I could handle making any more plans right now. I’m working on getting reviews done and attempting to clear out my inboxes, and here at home I’m trying to figure out where the heck to put all the new toys.

Chris says I have to stop now, so I’ll catch up with you all later!