A Very Merry Awesome Christmas So Far . . .

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Some of you will remember my disappointment over how Thanksgiving turned out.   I cleaned and cooked but ended up with the impression that it was all wasted effort.  Without dwelling on that, I was determined not to repeat that for Christmas. 

We did Christmas Eve this morning at my son and daughter-in-law's.  We were fairly determined to have them call us about the plans, but I gave in yesterday and asked when we might come over to bring the kids the presents. That was the board's suggestion.   So we went over there today at 11 a.m., early enough so that they wouldn't feel we expected them to feed us but not so early as to disrupt any late sleeping they might have planned.

It went great! We very determinedly went for "teen presents" for the oldest. He is 12 but thinks he is much older. We got him a blue tooth speaker water bottle and the two sets of Warrior books he wanted. His stocking didn't have the collection of junky toys (he can play with the younger kids' if he so wants) but rather an Itunes gift card, a giant Hershey bar, a hacky sack, and so on. He's hard to please because he has ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder), but he seemed to appreciate our acknowledgment of his new status.

The others just loved their presents and junky stocking toys. It was utter chaos and mayhem.  I don't do chaos and mayhem as well as their parents, and DH doesn't do it at all.  So we left when we wanted to and had a lovely lunch on the way home. 

Tomorrow is Part II with my daughter's family.  It will be fine. 

I think I'm liking it this way.     We are going to the Comedy Club with my son and daughter-in-law on NYE.  We've done that ever since DH moved here seven years ago.  So there's no hard feelings.  I actually think they liked it, too.

All's well that ends well.

[zibazinski]

Good news. DS is on his way over and DD is already here. First time in forever just the three of us.