Merry Christmas!

It was a very Merry Christmas at our house this year!   Oh wait - our cable is blinking in and out and the girls are now at each other's throats and DinoBoy has been MIA since we returned from our Christmas Dinner at my SIL's house. 

But - it started out wonderfully - although DinoBoy is a Santa Skeptic, he was fantastically excited for Christmas morning and went to bed well last night. Twink?  She decided to stay up all night because she kept hearing funny noises in the house and heard Santa's sleigh bells and hohoho-ing all night long.  Which made our job all the tougher.  SweeTart decided that she didn't buy the stuff that her brother and sister were trying to sell, telling her that Santa would leave her more gifts under the tree if she slept in her own bed - she still bunked with us.  

Luckily, after a long night, the older two didn't get out of bed until just before 7 a.m.  They were so excited after peeking downstairs - SweeTart got a bike! - that they felt the need to try to wake her up.  Not even telling her she got a bike was incentive enough.  They came back down and got her a Rapunzel doll and Maximus the horse (from Tangled) to entice her out of bed so the gift opening could begin. 

All were excited with their gifts.  DinoBoy's expression was priceless when he opened his "special edition" of Xbox360 - Halo (wars?)  All of his friends told him there was no way he was getting "that."  He cannot wait to start making phone calls tomorrow.  Twink is excited about her Dsi and less than excited about her iPod but - I think the excitement will come after she gets a few things downloaded onto it.  SweeTart can't figure out what she likes the best.  She is sitting next to me now, watching Curious George on Nick, looking a little dazed and confused, holding on to her new baby Ariel doll with all she's got.  My sister gave SweeTart  a Weeble Wobble treehouse ('member those??) and some Weeble people.  Its so cute and just like I remember but bigger. 

Hubs was more than generous to me - a beautiful sunburst diamond pendant - so much for "I didn't get you much" and lots of other great stuffs!  I wish we weren't expecting two feet of snow tomorrow into Monday so I could wear my cool, new Margaritaville flops!   I will be fishing out my snow boots from the drawers in the laundry room instead.    Also made plans to return the *great* gift that I got for him - he decided that it wasn't what he wanted - not "green" enough and it's going back.  After the snow, of course. 

My family came over for our traditional brunch at 11:30.  I made our now "traditional" Celebration Strata (was originally in one of those small supermarket checkout aisle cookbooks - for Easter but it is so dang yummy!)   I was happy that my uncle brought my Grandmother over.  She is usually house bound - very, very limited mobility but she put her happy face on and shared the love our house today.  Loads of kids, happiness, screaming and crying all at once. Everyone was gone by 2:15 so that we could head to SILs.   Had a great time there too - my girls had a great time playing with my nieces who are 12 and 15 and DinoBoy had fun playing with my nephew who is just a year older than him.  Before we left, we got surprising news that another of our nephews is expecting with his girlfriend and planning a wedding.  Heard it through the grapevine so we weren't as surprised to hear that as we were to hear that my SIL and her fiance are expecting (my expectant nephew's mother.)  They're due 2 months apart.   Drama, right?  Probably at first but I guess they're all used to the facts now and it's happiness abound!   So happy for them both - can't wait for the babies to arrive safe and sound in the 2nd quarter of 2011.  (PS - a boy and a girl!)  After we all regained consciousness at the dinner table, we shared lots of stories and laughter - it was a lot of fun - a great night and a very merry Christmas!

PS - our local NBC affiliate in Philadelphia is forecasting a local "pocket" around my area of 18-24" of snow.  For real?  During Christmas vacation?  No snow day???  Come on!  I'm going to have to reschedule 5 - yes - FIVE dentist appointments that I have scheduled for Monday afternoon that are already seriously overdue?  What are the chances of my getting all five in a row (or simultaneously) again ... before Easter break??