Christmas Time . . .

We had a great Christmas. My mom, stepdad and brother (who came in from Minnesota) came over to our house on Christmas Eve for a simple little dinner and we opened a couple presents per child. They had a great time playing with Nanny and Papa and Uncle Josh. They had a difficult time getting to bed even though I cancelled the nap for the day. McCartney was so over tired and whiny. By the time we got her in bed, and told her she better sleep because Santa is coming, she began screaming "I don't want a present" in her nasty-est little girl voice. She was still awake at midnight. Mom stayed and helped me wrap all the kids presents while Josh stayed and watched Elf. It was like Christmas for me as we wrapped. I shop clearance sales all year 'round for Christmas gifts and put them in a large rubbermaid contained in the attic. By the time Christmas comes I forget what I've bought! We wrapped in record time. Everything was done in less than an hour. Robert and I stayed up and watched another movie and thankfully the kids didn't get up to see what Santa had brought them until about 11:00am.

Dustin was pretty well behaved. We went to my uncle's house and had holiday dinner and spent some time with my mother's family. Dustin was once again very well behaved and was even able to play appropriately with the cousins. He was by no means perfect, but he was better than I expected. Last year was awful, so any improvement is good. It's nice when the family says, "Wow, Dustins' doing well." You always have to lower you expectations and it's especially nice when the family doesn't expect too much from him either. All in all it was a good day.

McCartney and I took a looooong nap when we got home. Bad idea. McCartney was still up at midnight when I went to sleep finally giving in and telling her to keep on talking, but I was tired. I have no idea when she gave in, but she was horrid to get up this morning for daycare.

It was whirlwind of a weekend, with the reunion, the parties and the big guy's arrival at home, but I had a super time. We are truly blessed!