It’s all over. Today we bravely ventured out, fearing the worst, and yet we managed to finish up all the shopping we needed to do in just about two hours. We went to an outlet place where you can get really nice, good quality stuff for reasonable prices first. There really weren’t any more people than usual for a Saturday and after a bit of wandering around and discussing the merits of this versus that for so-and-so, we found what we wanted to get and we left. Just like that, my family (plus my sister’s boyfriend – do you know how agonizing it is to shop for someone you barely know, hoping that you picked a good gift?) and George’s family were taken care of.

After that we went to a small local store to get a few things I had seen that I wanted to get; we also got a gift for each of the girls to give to each other. Breanna is giving Hayley a deck of Cinderella cards so that she has her very own deck for all the games of Go Fish that she loves to play (and maybe she’s ready for a few other card games too). Hayley is giving Breanna a new sippy cup which may not be super exciting but it’s very practical since Breanna only has two, one of which she doesn’t like because it has handles.

The last place we went gift shopping was the dollar store for stocking stuffers and gift wrap. I was not looking forward to it because I was sure it would be like the Apocalypse in there, with shoppers scattering everywhere like locusts. Much to my shock it was completely bearable. There really weren’t very many people at all. We went through the aisles and picked up a lot of nice little things for the girls to put in the stockings (a lot of craft type stuff for Hayley and also an awesome pair of really pretty fair wings for each of them to play dressup with) and got our wrapping paper, then we stood in line for less than three minutes. It was great! I’m just glad that at the last minute I remembered that we needed some batteries for a couple of the toys – that would royally suck if we didn’t have any for their new loot.

Interestingly, the worst place of all was the grocery store. We ran in to get something for supper for tonight and tomorrow, as well as a few essentials (hellloooo egg nog!) and some cookie dough so Hayley and I can bake cookies for me Santa tomorrow afternoon. I wouldn’t mind baking some actual cookies from scratch but I’m just not that much of a baker and I’m more of a cake person, so Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies suit me just fine, especially when I have plenty to do tomorrow anyway.

When we got home, Hayley was still with her grandparents, so I took advantage of that and wrapped Breanna’s gift from Santa and all our stuff for Hayley. All I have to do tomorrow is do Breanna’s gifts from us, and George will take care of the two things over at his parents’ garage.

Tomorrow I’m getting Hayley up at 7 or 7:30 at the latest and we’re going to try to keep her busy and active so she’ll sleep tomorrow night. Too bad she won’t be getting the ball pit until Monday, otherwise she could use up some energy that way. Maybe I’ll get her to do some housework while I sit around and sip egg nog.

I feel so festive. I was always kind of Scrooge-y after I grew up, not hating Christmas but not being all “WOO YAY” about it. Then I had kids and suddenly it’s fun again. I can’t wait to watch them open stuff up. I’m most excited about Breanna’s piano and the train set we got spur of the moment for Hayley. She saw it on the back of a magazine last week (it’s a GeoTrax set) and siad she would love one but I said maybe next year some time. I thought they were really expensive. Then we ended up not being able to find Diego’s Rescue Pack and I spotted one of the train sets at Toys R Us for an incredible price. She isn’t expecting it at all so I know she’ll explode. What’s fun about them is they’re like those Habitrail hamster systems – you can buy extra sets and just add on.

I wish Christmas was tomorrow, I’m so excited for the joy of the holiday I can hardly stand it.