Merry Christmas!

Yes, I know it's 4 days after Christmas, but I'm just now finding the time to sit down and do this.  It was a crazy few weeks leading up to the holidays, with sports still going, school activities, and our normal nuttiness on top of the kids' excitement over Christmas.  I do have to say that it seemed less frantic somehow than in years past, though I'm not sure why exactly.

On Christmas Eve, Mike had to finish his shopping, so I had the kids for the day.  We did a couple of errands in the morning and then I had a Pilates class at noon.  Once we got back from the Y, we all cleaned up and got ready for mass.  We had to be there early because our older daughter was singing in the choir, so it did make for a bit of a long afternoon.  The church was packed, as usual, and it was about the looudest mass I've ever been to, but we all survived and then headed home for dinner.

Our friends came over with their two boys that evening, as they have for the past few years.  We did a Dungeness crab extravaganza, with a bunch of cold, cracked crab for an appetizer and steamed, hot crab for dinner.  We also had some wonderful caviar and cheeses before the meal and a ginger spice cake with homemade butterscotch topping for dessert.  Yum!  It was a fun night and once again, we chatted late into the evening.

I still had a mountain of wrapping to do, so I knew it was going to be a LATE night.  I swear every year that I'm going to get it done ahead of time and every year I end up doing it that night.  Best laid plans, I guess.  I finally got it all done and the stockings ready and the gifts under the tree by about 2:30.  We desperately hoped that the kids would take pity on us and sleep in a bit, since they had gotten to bed late as well.

Our youngest woke up at her usual 6:45 on Christmas morning, but I was able to convince her that it was still night since it was dark out yet and she managed to go back to sleep.  Her brother and sister woke up at about 7:45 and proceeded to head downstairs and check out the tree and sort the gifts into piles while they waited for the rest of us to get up. Good thing I got my pictures of the tree the night before!  The little one woke up the second time at about 8:30, so we all got up and got the day started.

We opened the gifts in our stockings first, to take the edge off and give breakfast time to cook.  Mike fixed the traditional breakfast casserole, which he and I love and the kids refuse to eat - too bad for them! They did sit through part of 'A Christmas Story", which Mike and I think is hysterical and we have on most of the day on Christmas.  The kids didn't really get it, but they were willing to watch it if it was the only thing on.  After breakfast, it was on to the presents under the tree.

The kids were all very happy with their gifts.  The highlights: an iPod Touch for our son, an American Girl horse for our older daughter, and a unicorn Pillow Pet for our younger daughter (her main present didn't arrive in time, so I told her she'd get it after our trip).  Mike gave me two iPad covers from the leather company we fell in love with last year, Saddleback Leather, plus a new camera since I killed the old one about a month ago.  I gave him a very large briefcase from Saddleback that will hold all of his work stuff and then some. 

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out at home.  The weather was awful - rainy and windy - so there was no desire to go outside.  We all stayed in our pajamas for most of the day.  The girls and I made chocolate chip cookies, which I'd been promising them we'd do, but I just had hadn't found the time to make them.  We did a dinner of leftovers and got everyone to bed at a reasonable time.

It was a lovely Christmas and went by all too fast, as usual.  I always hate when Christmas is over because it's my favorite time of the year and I absolutely love the whole build-up to the day.  It helps that we're now on vacation in San Diego and enjoying spending time with Mike's parents.  We did it last year for the first time and had a great time, so we decided to make it a tradition.

From our crazy family to yours, a belated Merry Christmas and a very happy new year!  May you all have a wonderful 2011!