Merry Christmas 2009!

Perfect - this was a perfect Christmas from start to finish. I don't believe I have ever declared a holiday or any special event perfect before. The morning started out with L running in yelling "He brought me a fish!". Santa had brought her a fish - just as requested. I got up and came out (so thankful I put the coffee last night!) and then L woke up S to see his requested item, a GraveDigger Monster Truck. Daddy Piper got up quickly to attend to the fire mishap. I had started a fire but forgot to open the damper to release the smoke. I hadn't ever had it closed on me before and when I started the fire this morning, smoke filled the house - oops!! Anyway he got up, I got J and we started our Christmas morning. Thankfully all this happened at 8 this morning - not too early! S was classic waking up - he stumbled down the hall, almost crabby for being woke up, only to find a GraveDigger Remote Control awaiting him. He rubbed his eyes, as if he couldn't believe his own eyes. It was so cool to see him this way. If I had been more prepared, I would have grabbed the camera only 2 feet from me but I didn't. I lived the moment instead. J was super excited to see his own Pottery Barn chair. All the kids have them. They are worth every penny. We didn't have to buy this one though since Santa brought it : -) We spent the next couple of hours opening gifts, hear glorious squeals over the socks and undies in the stockings (S was sooooooo excited over his undies - he opened them and checked them out one by one). Their stockings were so full this year, Santa couldn't even hang them back up, he had to sit them by the fireplace - what a problem indeed!! We gathered close to the fire and finished opening all the goodies, which included things like the socks and undies, moon sand (bad idea Santa), glitter glue, Transformer trucks, sippies for J, nail polish and lip stuff for S, movies and Playdoh. Santa included only one candy gift this year. He gets smarter and smarter each year : -) It was easy to say yes to the pixi stick stuff. J's had some gummy Lifesavers. He started saying "Candy" and improved his "More" this morning. The neatest thing was all the stocking stuffers cost Santa almost nothing!!! Next up was gifts. For a year that has been super lean for us, the tree was loaded with gifts for the kids. L got some cute clothes, jammies, lunchbox, Tinkerbell movie, Connect 4 game, art case from Grandma, purse and goodies from Auntie LW and Fancy Nancy as her special Christmas book. S got Leapfrog tag reader with 6 books, jammies, lunchbox, Hungry Hippo game (which J loved!!), Santa Buddies movie, Tball set from Grandma, remote control car from Auntie LW and his special Christmas book was "Snow". J got his library bag, some books for his Leappad touch system, an Elmo phone, a telephone from Auntie LW, a HUGE dump truck from Grandma and a baby Christmas book. By the time we got all these fun things opened, I realized we were going to be late for my sister's house. I had to call her and tell her. No biggie. I then had to call my mother and tell her Merry Christmas. This was a terrible thing. I should have just text her. This was the only glitch in the day. She was mad because we were going to be late. No asking about the kids' Christmas morning or anything - just upset attitude. I wouldn't even discuss the call with Daddy Piper. I REFUSED to allow this to bring down our day. We opened our gifts from each other. The kids made Daddy Piper a picture frame and their cute picture and got him a Transformer shirt. He went all out with the gifts he got me. I got a dish rack and wooden kitchen utensils (just as I requested) and he included some grilling utensils and a new ironing board cover. He had these wrapped in a huge box so it threw me off totally!!! He did include my ring pop. I get jewelry every year - We have diamond years and we have ring pop years. This was a ring pop year!!! Daddy Piper called his mom to wish her a Merry Christmas, I started breakfast and the kids played in the room where ToysRUs threw up : -) We had toys and stuff all over this house. It was truly the things Christmas mornings are made of. There was laughter, playing, fighting, fusshing and lots of fun!! We forgot to put out the bop bag thing. Daddy Piper quickly got it out and ready. The plug came out of the bottom and water went everywhere. On the second try, it worked great : -) S was super excited about this, because it was just like Daddy had when he was a boy!! Breakfast and getting dressed went quickly then it was time to gather a couple of toys and hit the road to Auntie DP's house. L was insistant on bringing her red purse from Auntie LW, filled to the brim. I think that is one of her most prized gifts. It is a super cute purse, just perfect for her lipstuff and phone. S LOVES his Gravedigger Monster Truck from his stocking. He brought that along with his new water bottle. The drive went pretty quick. Well as quickly as it could go with L asking "Are we there?" "How much longer?" "Where's the tunnel?" "Are we there yet?". I got car sick driving up. I had a sinus headache when we left and this contributed to that yucky, nauseous feeling.

L hates going to DP's house because she usually gets trampled by the dogs. We reassured her it wouldn't happen. Today was S's turn to get hurt. He got hurt this time - he fell on a rebar and scratched his cheek.

We spent about 4 hours at my sister's. It was wonderful. Everyone was in a great mood. J wasn't too sure of anyone at first but came around pretty quickly. We opened gifts with them almost right away. Tons of fun stuff from both my sister and my mother. My sister put the dogs away and the kids enjoyed playing outside with SP and RP with their new remote control trucks.
I spent some of the time helping with their laptops. We got them hooked up wirelessly with Verizon. That was quite the ordeal but we got it worked out. I love working on computer stuff like that.

All 3 kids make themselves at home at my sister's house. They go right into RP's room and play with his toys. I am not sure he enjoys that all too much but he tolerates it okay. All 3 kids are also flooded with sugar from their Auntie. I try not to intervene too much but seriously, I don't think J was without a sucker for most of the 4 hours we were there : -)

The trip home was quiet for the most of it. J and S slept almost all the way home. L sang Christmas carols and complained loudly that it was too dark to draw or read.

Tonight S was going to feed the fish otherwise known as Cookie. He grabbed the food and the top popped off. It went everywhere. This was a classic moment when I would have gotten upset but chose not too. It really is a choice, most of the time. He started crying, I grabbed him and hugged him, got the Swiffer and cleaned it up. No harm done. It felt great not to be upset. S was quickly comforted when he saw I wasn't upset. I need to work on that - not getting upset over the minor stuff. And truly - spilling fish food accidentally is minor stuff.

Dinner was frozen pizza then it was quick baths and off to bed. Goodnight prayers, hugs and kisses then they were off to snoozeland. Or maybe not. Daddy forgot the damper thing again and this time the fire alarm went off, LOUDLY. L slept through it. S hopped up to investigate. J just kept hollering "Daddy?Daddy?Daddy?" from his bed. Daddy comforted everyone, got the alarm shut off and opened the damper : -)

This was a wonderful, special holiday with lots of fun memories to hold onto forever. I am so thankful for my family this year. Attending the Christmas service last night meant so much to me. I am looking forward to learning more about God in the coming year as I attend a Bible in 90 days study thing Jan-March.

Life is good. God is good!!!!!