Merry, Merry

What a nice Christmas! No stress of travel or houseguests. Lots of time to just BE with family. I would not have it like this every year, but this was just what the doctor ordered this year. Next year we can jump on a plane and do the whole big family holiday with cousins and grandparents and long lost uncles. And stay sane because we recharged this year.

Ok, highlights. Friday, C took the girls out shopping for my stocking stuffer while I finished cleaning up the house and putting the final touches on wrapping gifts. Saturday, I did some cooking/baking prep for Christmas dinner and breakfast. We also attended C's church for their Christmas service. E slept on my arm through the whole service! C was glad of my nod to his faith. When we got home the kids opened one present. They both picked one from two of my brothers: E got a Playmobil monkey tree that goes with A's zoo and A opened a secret journal with a spy pen and blacklight to see the writing with. They played with those until bedtime and then we read a bunch of Christmas books. They were not tired, but were eager to have morning come. I stayed with them until the cinnamon buns needed to go into the oven and then C took over. Then I stayed up getting the presents all set up for the morning. I was done and headed up to bed at 12:30. C was still in the girls room, he said E had just fallen asleep a little before. At least they slept til 7:30am! A came into our room and said Santa had come, so we all got up to go see what we got. The big Santa gift was a keyboard. C got me a new top of the line bread machine! I also got a roasting pan and some holiday china. Guess I will be cooking up a storm this year. C got a satellite radio, a bunch of airplane stuff from me and some books. The girls got more Ello sets, a planetarium, a bunch of books, a magic hat kit, fleece ponchos, and a bunch of stuff I can't remember. E commented to C later in the day that it was too much and she did not know what to play with! A and I played with the piano, A learned Mary Had a Little Lamb and I learned Fur Elise. I actually played both hands! Maybe in a few months I will be able to play it with the same speed the keyboard says I should. Fun! E just liked plunking away to the music in her head with no concern for playing actual songs! I like pretending I actually have a grand piano in my library, when I hear it from some other part of the house. It sounds that good!

Today we picked Aunt K up from the airport and have been hanging with her all day. The girls put on ballet shows for her on our "stage". We ate homemade pizza and played games this evening. And everyone is worn out and heading towards bed early tonight!