On the days before and after Christmas...

...my true love gave to me: 1 visitng MIL, 2 kids jacked up on Christmas, 3 nights of wrapping, Fouuurrrr flu "bugged" people(including me).

(edited to add: please make sure you're comfy, grab a coffee and a snack and maybe some champagne you might be here awhile)

Yes, it's all over for another year. Thankfully no one was sick until Christmas night after all the festivities were done. Well except for that incident on the day before Christmas Eve when we were all dressed and ready to go out after the kids went to bed and I narrowly missed being puked on.
Christmas Eve is always my favorite time, and this year was no different. The kids are allowed to open 1 gift each, always the same thing, a new pair of Jammies, and 1 mutual gift (usually a new christmas book, this year the Polar Express DVD). "L" was superhero superman with a velcro cape, and "K" a "pirate" of the carribean with his skull pants. We watched for the first time The Polar Express, and then read the four or five Christmas books we have acquired over the years. They boys put out Grandma "Faraways" almond cookies and some "nog negg" for Santa and carrots for the Reindeer, then off to bed after tracking Santa with Norad. This by the way is very cool for the kids, my kids loved it,

Christmas morning was good, and funny, not always the reaction you expect. When the boys came downstairs and both had bright shiny new red bikes under the tree (unwrapped of course) my oldest was taken right away and my youngest seem not to notice. Even though it was what he talked about most of the summer and right up to christmas about getting a new bike. Instead it was "Mom, what's in this big box?" "I don't know bud, do you see anything else intresting?" "UUMMMM" glances at bike, "Yeah but what's in this big box, is it for me?" "Look "L" I think Santa brought you this." "Yeah, but what's in this big box?" One track mind. He didn't warm up to the bike until yesterday when I convinced him that he could ride it without the upturned training wheels attached. (He wouldn't let us take his training wheels off his old bike when he didn't need them anymore, but allowed us to flip them up out of the way making them useless. The training wheels didn't get installed on then new bike.)

Christmas dinner, which did not include turkey, but stuffed roasted chicken, was fantastic. I made the chicken, and veggies, and a Rum Cake, hell knows we all should have rum for the holidays. My mom made the stuffing and gravy and my MIL made a fantastic and gigantic pecan pie. Dinner included, my mom and dad (divorced but still civil even pleasant to each other) my oldest brother and his gf, and my MIL and my family. Great fun was had by all after dinner when "L" passed around the POP ROCKS he got in his stocking, discussion of said POP ROCKS and its uses not to be mentioned here!

I received a beautiful family ring from my husband and sons, and the best knitting gift of all time was a ball winder from my best knitting friend Shelly. Isn't it great to have someone who knows what's going to turn your crank(pun intended) Thanks Shelly.

Well the insanity is not yet over, we still have not decided if we will attend the New Years party we put of going to every year. It seems like getting prepared for one night out with friends right after Christmas is like organizing a major play, a production of monstrous sets and cast. Usually I'm all for it before Christmas, when we get the RSVP invitation, but come Boxing Day it's "Hon, do you wanna go, or should you just cook up your seafood dinner while I lounge in my flannel jammies and knit a row or two?) It so easy to stay home, but sometimes easy isn't always best, that's what I tell my kids,. Maybe I should take my own advice, and go out and buy a new dress for me and a new shirt and pants for my husband. Who am I kidding, I could buy some pretty nice yarn with all that money. Who's going to be there for me later when I'm down? Those people I got dressed up with and drank champagne or yarn, precious yarn?

Well it looks as though I have spun a yarn, I think I outdid myself. If you are still reading I commend you for your persistance. Lord knows I would have bought yarn and sat on the couch and knit by now.

Happy New Year fellow bloggers and knitters, I thank you for coming and hanging out with me.