Today was great! I got the apartment reasonably straightened up (or as much as you can when it seems like a toy store has exploded in the living room!) and made the sauce for my lasagna, then my family arrived despite the fact that winter finally decided to drop a bit of snow on us.

We chatted in the living room for a bit, then we opened gifts. I got some great things that I had wanted. Amanda and Neal got me a sandwich grill and a hairdryer (my hairdryer worked but the switch was broken so it needed to be unplugged to turn it off), and my parents got me a hand blender and perhaps best of all, a new battery charger with four AA batteries. My old charger probably still works but the batteries were dying out after almost six years. When I tried to use them in my camera, they would fizzle out way too quickly and just wouldn’t hold a charge. I am so happy to have new ones because it’s hard being a digital camera addict when the batteries can only hold out for about ten pictures!

Hayley was ecstatic, especially over the fact that she managed to get my sister and my mother both to come play in the ball pit with her. She showed everyone all her new toys and talked everyone’s ears off. Breanna was in great spirits and charmed everyone. She spent a great deal of time playing ball with my dad and even sat on his lap for awhile. I think that meant a lot to my dad because at that age Hayley was having some strong “stranger” anxiety where she didn’t want to go to anyone other than myself or George, and she was a little afraid of his beard too; Breanna thinks his beard is neat and had a great time playing with him.

Breanna went down by about 9 pm, crashing on my shoulder before I deposited her in the crib. Hayley held out until everyone left at about 11:30. She was exhausted but there was no way she would have gone to sleep with them here, especially Auntie Amanda. I put her to bed, and she was sad because she couldn’t find her baby that she sleeps with (a little bunny in a blue dress) but she hugged her new Pablo of the Backyardigans, a gift from Amanda and Neal, and although I promised to bring her baby in if I found her, Hayley was sound asleep when I came back in with the bunny two minutes later.

Supper was good. I made two big lasagnas, George made garlic bread, we had a bottle of red wine, and we still had some ice cream log cake for dessert. It was nice to meet Neal, he is a really great guy and I’m happy that my sister is with someone who is obviously very good for – and to – her. He fit in well, making jokes and playing with the kids, and it was good to get to know someone important in my sister’s life.

Even though they were here for almost eight hours, I wish that we could have had a longer visit or that there was time to squeeze in one more get-together before they leave on the 28th. I’m ecstatic that Amanda lives where she wanted to be for so long, but I miss her when she goes home. Still, it was a great Christmas to have her here for a day anyway.

The kids got a lot of great stuff too and I think I’m going to have to do some re-arranging to put their new toys on the shelves and whatnot, and pack away some of the old ones. Tomorrow is another regular day after all the festivities so they can just play and take it easy, and hopefully they’ll both sleep in a bit to make up for the excitement and late nights.

I have a ton of pictures but it’s almost midnight and I’m thinking bed sounds mighty fine right now so those will have to wait!

A very merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Ours was absolutely wonderful, and technically it’s not even over yet since we still have to do the get together with my family tomorrow, so we get a two-day Christmas over here.

Lots of fun, two very happy (and overstimulated, tired out) kids. I am off to bed since I got about four hours of sleep but one cute story:

Hayley went with her grandfather to pick out gifts for George and for me. I opened up a gift bag of very pretty, sparkly bracelets and I love them. I helped her wrap up George’s gift. She had gotten him a coffee mug to be used either for drinking or to hold his pens on his desk. I wondered what had prompted her to get that particular mug since it has a pattern of playing cards on it and it made me think of poker. Then, without even being asked, she told me, “it’s a Go Fish cup because Daddy and me play Go Fish a lot.”

I have been telling anyone with ears about that anecdote because it’s so incredibly endearing to me that I can barely contain myself. She may only be four but she can still be so thoughtful in the most surprising ways.

It’s a really good thing Hayley and Breanna are sleeping! Back at bedtime, Santa was all the way in Peru, but according to NORAD’s tracking of Santa’s travels, he’s already in New York right now!

I would hate to think that they were still awake when he’s only a few hours away. I’d better go to bed myself. I have a feeling tomorrow will start VERY early.

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.

I’m not ready to write about my grandmother yet; I want to compose my thoughts a little better and process today before I try. Suffice it to say that as far as a funeral can be, it was a wonderful service with great anecdotes and some lovely thoughts spoken by both the reverends who were there.

Instead, I’ll write about tomorrow. Despite tomorrow being the last Saturday and the second to last day before Christmas, I am a little freaked out about the fact that I have to go out to buy some final gifts, but I think we can do it. We have no need to go to any major chain stores so we can avoid that frenzy. We need to go get the stocking stuffers for the kids and the presents for our families. I know pretty well what I want to get for everyone in my family and although George isn’t sure offhand, I know he has some ideas and he is always amazing at picking out gifts anyway. You know how there’s always that stereotypical guy who goes out and buys a gift at 4:45 pm on the 24th and he ends up bringing home something lame like a toothpick holder or a set of rosary beads for his non-Catholic wife? George is the guy who could actually get something GOOD at that same hour.

Still, I won’t relax until it’s all done. We also have to get some regular groceries for us and the supplies to make the lasagna and salad for my family when they come here on the 26th.

Basically, I just want to try really hard to get everything we need by the end of the day so that we can really relax on the 24th. I’m hoping that if we go out at all on Sunday that it’s strictly for the purpose of visiting friends or family.

It’s a good thing I don’t have an ulcer, considering all my last minute shopping stress. In the meantime I think it’s time for a cup of tea and some cookies to unwind, think about everything whirling around in my head, and then go to bed so I can effectively elbow my way through the crowds.

Today is Winter Solstice/Yule. Every year we have the same meal. Somehow we ended up with meat pie and vegetables several years back and that became our tradition. I kind of like it.

Of course, we can’t actually burn a Yule log according to tradition because, you know, we don’t want to burn the building down. Instead we get an ice cream log cake. So our Yule log had caramel on it.

Other than that, I’m glad that today was the shortest day of the year and that starting tomorrow there will be a little more daylight every day.

Apropos of nothing, I just wanted to share this picture of George and Breanna being couch potatoes, eating rice cakes, and watching what was probably inappropriate television, just because it’s cute.

I’m attending the funeral tomorrow. I’m trying very hard not to think about it until I get there. Having more daylight return couldn’t have come at a better time.

This is amazing! Virgin dragon to give birth in holiday season. The komodo dragon has never even mixed with male dragons, let alone mated. She impregnated herself. It’s a fascinating read. Remember the last virgin birth? Hmmm.

Agnes Campbell
September 24th 1914 – December 20th 2006

My grandmother, my last remaining grandparent, passed away this morning. While getting ready to have a bath, she suffered a heart attack. I think we’re all still a little blindsided at this point. At 92 years of age, I suppose it shouldn’t be a tremendous shock, but it just is. Also, it makes it awkward to balance the festive feeling of having two excitable children at Christmas time with the lonely feeling of loss.

I’ll write more tomorrow.

I’m having issues with my email right now. I don’t know if it’s just me or if there’s a Verve problem at the moment (my site is working, obviously). In the meantime, if you have tried to email me since 10 pm last night I haven’t gotten it; you can reach me though at sendanowl at gmail dot com which I realize is a very lame Harry Potter fangirl address, but you know, sue me.

Remember when I posted that picture of the inflatable Santa on top of the inflatable polar bear? Remember I mentioned that there was a house we pass occasionally that is far more enamored of inflatable Christmas decorations? Remember I promised I would take a picture and post it for you so that you can share in the holiday horror cheer?

You’re welcome.

I think the worst part was that in the week since I had last seen it, they ADDED to it. The Santa on the upper balcony and the archway over the stairs weren’t there before. I guess they thought their collection was missing a certain festive je ne sais quoi.

I came home and was very happy to have just a simple little tree with simple white lights and no frightening inflatable crowd on my balcony or front lawn.