Christmas Round Up...Wrap Up...and Clean Up Part 2

Normally I dread Christmas morning because I do not like being woken up for any reason and the boys know not to wake us up before 8 a.m.  But wouldn't you know it, I was awake retardedly early...like 7:15!  So I sat in the bed, staring at the ceiling, counting down the minutes until it was 8:00 and then I could go in and wake the boys up!

What in the world???

So I go in and wake them up and it was just about the funniest thing in the world to see the utter confusion on their faces when they saw me and then looked at the clock.  I'm unsure which caused them the most despair:  the fact that I was in their room waking them up or the fact that it was 8:00 and they were still asleep!  

I went out in to the living room, got my camera ready and then called them out to open gifts.  I LOVE this whole process because really, they just love getting presents of any kind.  Santa got Michael an iPod Nano and Nick got a game for the Xbox.  Their stockings were filled with all kinds of nonsense that had them smiling (including lots of candy).  Within 20 minutes all of the presents were unwrapped and I was sitting on the couch, stunned.  Why?  Well, those of you who are long time readers of All-Stace might remember what happened last year.  For you newcomers, check out this post from last year that tells the story of how my son blew me off for Christmas!

But back to the story...I was sitting there stunned because the boy who ruined Christmas last year actually made this one amazing.  He bought a Wii for the family!!  For me who bought two fitness games for the Wii - "Fitness Coach" and "Wii Active 2 Personal Trainer"!  PLUS...He bought Michael a game for it, the system came with Wii Sports AND he bought two extra controllers for the family.  I mean you could have knocked me over with a feather!

Then there was Frank.  My husband, who I love so much, always puts off shopping until Christmas Eve and there are times that he has bought ...shall we say...awkward gifts.  Ladies, you know what I mean, the kind that say "This was all that was left in the store".  This is the first year that he shopped early, asked me for a list and then actually SHOPPED from the list!  So I got a new photo album, two pads of 12x12 colored paper for scrapbooking, a gift card for Target, and then the 2011 Writer's Market Deluxe Edition and the Writer's Market Guide to Getting Published!  It was EXACTLY what I wanted!!!

We spent the rest of the day in our jammies.  I took a nap from noon to around one, I spoke to my family, we played massive amounts of Wii Bowling AND watched a bunch of "Psych" through Netflix on the Wii because Nick loaded all four of the available seasons on there for me!!  

I made this incredible roast for dinner - it was an eye round that was stuffed with ham, provolone, mozzarella, and baby spinach and then rolled and tied.  It made a fabulous presentation and tasted delicious.  We ate a late dinner - around 8 p.m. - and as I sat down at the table, I just wanted to cry because I was so happy.  I mean, it had truly been a wonderful Christmas and I was sitting with the three people who mean the world to me.  I wouldn't have traded it for anything.  


The snow started somewhere around 7 p.m. and we were just trying to figure out if the weather forecast was going to be accurate.  Unfortunately, it was.  When I woke up Sunday morning, it was still coming down.  We ended up with close to 8 inches of snow!  So even though the snow started late in the day, we can still say that we got a white Christmas.


Just that added little touch of magic for a wonderful day!