Christmas Eve Will Find You...At Circuit City!

Mr. Daddy and I have both been off work since the Friday before Christmas. Can I just say that if we hadn't taken our trip, we would likely have all killed each other by now? At the very least, one of the kids would surely have been eaten. I've always said God made kids cute for a reason -- so we won't eat them!

Since the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home from my MIL's house on Christmas Eve eve, they rose bright and early on Christmas Eve. We ate a leisurely breakfast and as soon as the stores opened, we went to spend the Christmas cash that was burning a hole in our pockets.

See, the thing is, we have very little spending money for fun things. I'm not trying to poor mouth or make y' all feel sorry for me, but when you spend $300 a week on child care (as we do), there's usually not a lot a left over for "extras." So, the money that my MIL gave us was a little like manna from heaven and Mr. Daddy and I both immediately went on a spending spree in our heads. Fortunately, we were both buying the same things and so didn't have to duke it out when it came time to spend the real stuff. When we got home we took some test shots with the camera.














Yes, I think he's going to the movies because he's picking his seat!














It's a rare appearance of the Christmas gopher!

Around 2:30 we headed over to my mom and stepdad's house. As I've mentioned before, Christmas Eve was when my family always gathered. This year my mom offered to keep the kids at her house while Mr. Daddy and I went to mass. Since I haven't been able to sit through an actual mass in, oh, about two years, I took her up on the offer. (I usually sit with Punkin' in the cry room but the place drives me so nuts that it's almost better that I don't go at ALL). BUT, when we got to mass, everyone was there with their families. Kids were everywhere, including a few of Bubba's classmates and I really wished that we had our kids with us.

After mass we went back to my mom's house for dinner and to open our presents. My brother and SIL were there with their kids. Their daughter, whom I'll call Birdie, will be 6 in January is one of Bubba's dearest friends. I know that as they get older they probably won't stay close, but for now they are and it makes me happy.

Here are Bubba, Birdie, Punkin and Birdie's little brother. I've blacked out the faces of the other children because I forgot to ask their mother's permission to publish them:


Both kids made out like bandits. Bubba got the Black Knight and the cool tent partially pictured below. My mom and I thought the Black Knight could be the bad guy, but according to the literature that came with him, he's actually the best and bravest knight of all. Go figure.


He also got several Magic Treehouse "chapter books," about which he was super excited. He also got an Air Hogs airplane that he's been talking about for over a year. I had no idea what in the heck he was talking about all this time, but fortunately my step-sister did! I know I'm leaving out several things he received, but suffice it to say that he was one happy little dude.

Punkin "got her princess on" this Christmas. My mom, whom we call MeMe, gave her a gorgeous Tinkerbell dress, which we somehow have NO pictures of (yes, I'm ending that sentence in a preposition, but it was already so convoluted and frankly I was just too tired to rethink it!). Hopefully someone else there took some pictures and will be kind enough to share with me because you have never seen a little girl so excited in all your life. MeMe also gave her these:


Everyone told her how pretty she was and she just pranced around the room, pausing periodically to peek at her pretty feet.

And can I just tell y'all that I covet these shoes. They are the perfect shade of pink and so! sparkly! I would have killed, KILLED, for these shoes when I was a child.

In addition to all her princess finery, Punkin also got a fun bathtub xylophone, some books (always a favorite!) and some Ariel blocks.

And I, of course, got the jeans. My step-sister gave me a gorgeous smelling candle and some books about how to take time for myself. Wonder how she knew I needed those?

All in all it was a lovely evening, though there were some slight meltdowns at the end of the evening. Two year olds just don't understand that every present is not for them. And it was a battle royale trying to take the princess dress and the shoes away from the princess at bedtime, BUT, Madame Queen prevailed, as she usually does, and the children were soon nestled snug in their beds.

Again, I'm running long...tune in tomorrow to find out what Santa forgot!