Happy Christmas to All, And to All A Good Night.

BEFORE:

I did it! Before bed last night I had baked my pie, made my cranberry salad, fixed Temera's breakfast dish to keep in the fridge until this morning, wrapped a few last minute gifts, stashed everything under the tree and even managed to get a shower. I was very proud of myself. I didn't sleep very well though. I kept having dreams that the kids had come in to wake us up to open their presents. Then I'd wake myself up because I thought they were in the living room. I think they made it to 6:40 before the boys were up and running. By 7:30 all the gifts were open and packaging was being torn apart to get to the goods.

AFTER:

Much to my surprise, there were 4 gifts under the tree for me this morning (not counting the one Temera/Halleyville left on her blog). They were not there when I went to bed last night. As a matter of fact, they were not in this house last night. Husband headed to Wal-Mart when he got off work...that would be around 11 p.m. He bought wrapping paper and everything! This is not a man who is big on gifts, but he's improving with age! I got a gift from each child (including Baby) and one from Husband. Baby Girl gave me a lovely green chenille robe (I've needed one for years now...), #1 Son gave me a crystal angel candle stick (if you know us, you may understand the significance of an angel from #1 Son), B.B. gave me a John Deer Barn cookie jar, Baby and Husband each gave me a taper candle for my angel. I was almost as surprised about my gifts as the kids were about theirs.

After the chaos settled down a bit, Bubba came over. He had driven up to Busha and Bucka's last night and was headed to G'Ma & G'Pa M&M's this afternoon. He told me he was deciding between 2 gifts for me: The extended edition 4 disk DVD of Narnia, or a shopping trip to Wal-Mart just for me. Since I already have the original Narnia DVD, he decided to take me shopping. He gave me an allowance and he and Baby Girl and I headed to town. Bubba got me a watch and 2 tunic tops. (I must say, I've picked a good time to be pregnant since tunics have come back into fashion. One should get me thorough at least the end of my second trimester...one may get me all the way through my pregnancy...and they'll still look good after Baby comes. Not to mention they cover up the fact that most of my jeans won't button.)

PART OF THE HAUL:
We went to Husband's family dinner tonight. It was fun. We hung out with all the cousins, ate too much, talked to Keith in Japan (Aim High House), and tried to watch Barnyard. It's a little difficult to watch a movie with 15-20 people in & out of the room. The entire family didn't make it, in all there are 50 of us. Tonight I think there were 43 of us by Husband's count. Not too shabby...that's what happens when your FIL is the oldest of 8 kids. We played Christmas Carrol brain teasers (which I happen to be pretty good at). MIL commented on how many I got right later in the evening. I said that's what comes of having a mother who listens to Christmas music all year long and a fourth grade teacher obsessed with brain teasers. It's finally paid off!

Now everyone is tucked into their new sheets wearing their new pajamas (well, everyone except B.B. who has escaped with Buzz Light Year to rock with Daddy until little eyes get heavy), I'm about to go shower and get things ready for Church in the morning. It has been a good day! Hope your Christmas is as blessed as mine has been.