After all that...

...Christmas is over. All those weeks of preparation - buying and wrapping gifts for everyone from the family to the mailman, baking, cleaning (not too much, in my case...), attending parties, and just like that (poof!), it's over! And what do we have to show for it? A bunch of nice gifts, a few extra pounds, and a TON of wrapping paper and boxes in the recycle bin! And of course, another year of Christmas memories.

The kids had a fun Christmas. Emmalee was very worried that she might not have behaved well enough to get the presents she had asked Santa for, so she left him a note on Christmas Eve, placed next to the plate of cookies and milk, that said "Dear Santa, please leave me as many gifts as I deserve". Her prayers that night included "Dear God, I know sometimes I misbehave, because it is too hard to behave all the time, but please let me get at least one present tomorrow. I don't even care if I don't get a lot, all I want is just one!" Well, she must have been very good, because she got almost everything she asked for! Her favorite gift from Santa was her Cheetah Girls Tour Bus. Micah was thrilled with all of his gifts, too. He was funny. Steve and I got him a scooter. He hadn't asked for one, but we thought it was cool and got him one. Well, Emmalee kept playing on it and they were arguing over it. Finally, I told her to keep off the scooter because it wasn't hers. Micah said "well actually, she can have it, because I didn't want one anyway. I didn't even ask for it!" He later changed his mind and decided he did want it after all. Micah's favorite gift from Santa was the yellow Transformer. Lily had fun this year too. She opened her presents, and enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper. Santa brought her a grocery cart and my dad gave her a doll that she put in the cart and enjoyed pushing around the house.

The biggest hit, by far, was Steve's present from me. Here's a little background information - Steve has a problem with video games. He is a video game addict. Last year my sister's family got the Wii. When we visited, Steve played the Wii the whole time we were there. Through dinner, till about 3am. No one else could play, and everyone else was ignored while Steve played the Wii. The same thing happened last Christmas when our nephew Bryson got the PS2. He brought it down here when they came to visit at New Years. Steve took over the game system, hardly even letting Bryson play it, and stayed up all night playing. It's a little bit annoying. I have always said we will NOT have a game system in this house. Anyway, I caved this year and bought him a Wii. I kept it a secret from the kids, and kept telling Steve things to throw him off , because he had guessed that that was what I was getting him. I decided I could not wrap up the Wii system because once he saw the package, he would know. So I wrote a note, saying "You wiire (were) right", put it in a little jewelry box and wrapped that up for him. He had no idea. It was the last gift he opened, and he was SO excited. I warned him that if he got out of control with it, I was returning it. So far, he hasn't been too bad. The kids love it!

After opening presents at home, we went to Aunt Sharon and Uncle Mike's house to join the rest of the family for dinner. We all ate too much - when you are surrounded by delicious food, it's hard to not overeat.


Andrea and Michael and their 3 kids are now staying at our house for a couple days, and Steve's parents and grandmother will be coming down sometime this or next week, and his brother and wife and their kids will be coming next Thursday!

All in all, it has been a fun whirlwind of a holiday! Always fun to spend time with family and good food!