A Merry Little Christmas

We all converged in my new home two days before Christmas. Smoochy and my Dad had left Florida the day after the wedding and flew to Kansas where our dog and family car were waiting. They drove together to Wheaton the day before my Mom, the kids, and I flew in. Smoochy was at work when we landed so it was up to Dad to pick us up from the airport. I don't think he enjoyed any of the driving in the snow. He kept grumbling things like "This is why I left the North!" and "I'd forgotten how crummy this stuff is." referring to the snow. It really was a shock to the system though. One minute it was sunny and 80 degrees and one shot plane ride later we had been plunged into the dead of winter.

I'll never forget pulling into our freshly shoveled driveway for the first time. (Dad had dug it out the night before!) I thought, "Gee, I'm home... and I've never been here here before!" It really was a strange feeling. From there we all just tried to settle in and get comfortable. No small task to be sure. Smoochy had been living there for about a week after the movers had unloaded all our earthly possessions. And he had done a good job of unpacking most of what we needed immediately. However, we still needed food and CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!

Between my brother's wedding and our move, neither Mom or I had given much thought to Christmas. Further, my family had agreed to forgo the gift exchange... so it really wasn't until December 23rd that we started gearing up to celebrate the holiday at all. We decided we need the bare minimums that would make it feel like Christmas: 1) My Mom's famous Eggstrata Breakfast Casserole; 2) Stockings for the kids; and 3) Table Presents! For those of you not familiar with this family tradition, table presents are historically hooky little gifts placed on the dinner table with a ribbon attached to them and name tags at everyone's place setting. After the meal and on a count of three, we pull the ribbon to see which present belongs to each person. The strings are always in tangles, and it is always a hoot trying to get the whole mess sorted out.

So we set about to make those goals a reality. We did allmost all of the shopping for our undertaking at Target on Christmas Eve. That in itself was an adventure. You should have seen the nasty lines and the grumpy people waiting in them. There was a lot of ba-hubug in that place, let me tell you. But not us. We had a grand old time filling our cart with goodies for the kids and sneaking off to find table presents for each other with out giving away the surprise!

It just wouldn't be Christmas without Eggstrata!

Dreams of sugarplums danced in their heads.

The traditional reading of The Night Before Christmas

This was the first Christmas Eve I got to stay up late playing Santa Claus. I'm glad I got to share that with my parents. It's a bit like they passed the torch. We dumped all of the loot on to the dining room table and wrapped up all the Christmas-cheer. It was fun, even if I was pooped. Mom and dad reminisced about doing the exact same thing years passed after midnight mass, and us kids had all finally gone to sleep.

This was our fireplace and Christmas tree all rolled in to one.

The next morning, Christmas was on! It was nice because our kids had no concept of Santa or the rest of it, so we had time to put on the coffee and get the cameras ready before showing them their stockings. Of course, it was great fun watching them light up over their gifts and play with all the new toys.


The rest of the day went wonderfully as well. We had been sent an extra special Christmas care package from our family in Kansas. SO, along with my Mom's famous Eggstrata we were also lucky enough to enjoy my mother-in-law's world renowned cinnamon rolls. Oh my God, they are SO good. Plus, the package contained all sorts of fun presents. It really was the perfect make-shift Christmas ever. Far exceeding our expectations!

The next couple of pictures were actually taken the couple of days after Christmas that my parents were still here. It has been so bla since they left. We really miss you, Grampy and Granny. Come back and see us soon, OK?