The perfect Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. Even though things got a little frantic on Christmas Eve, complete with remembering that we needed last-minute gifts as well as last-minute items from the store in preparation of stores being closed on Christmas Day, Christmas Day itself went really well. It was peaceful, happy and filled with lots of laughs and good cheer. Aside from receiving really bad news about a family member that made me really sad that I can’t talk about here, it really was a blessed day.

I woke up early on Christmas. For once, the children slept in! I used this time to tidy up a bit then sat at the desk to do some writing. After I was done writing, the kids were still asleep, so I enjoyed a peaceful cup of coffee and just relaxed for a while. Then I took a shower and after I was dressed, Jesse woke up. It was almost 10 a.m.!

So after Jesse woke up and I gave him hugs and kisses, wishing him a merry Christmas, he saw the tree with all the presents, got excited and woke his sister up. It didn’t take much effort to wake Jennifer up once Jesse told her that Christmas was finally here! Even though the kids had to wait for their dad to get out of bed for the unwrapping of presents, Jennifer could already see that she had the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie in her stocking. She could see this because it was sticking out of her stocking! (Her Christmas stocking is the smallest. I told her that next year, we should get her a bigger stocking. But that matter was resolved later when the kids opened the box of presents from their grandparents [hubby’s parents] and got new stockings. Jennifer was happy about this and said the stocking she received would be her new Christmas stocking. Thank you, Jim and Mindi!) She was happy that we finally owned this movie. As to Jesse, he’d received the movie he had specifically asked for: A Charlie Brown Christmas.

When we were all on the couch, Jennifer played Santa and handed everybody their presents. Well, except for the time that Jesse grabbed one present he knew was his. For days before Christmas, he’d seen this present under the tree and he always reached for it and held it in his hands, eager to open it. It was one of the gifts from me and hubby. Two books, one about fish and the other about farm animals. He opened this present first and got really excited over them. Jennifer got him a book, too; a Spiderman pop-up book. Jennifer also got books; I got her the new Wimpy Kid book, Cabin Fever, as well as Diary of a Zombie Kid. She was so excited about the first book (it was on her Christmas list) but a little surprised by the second one. At first, she thought it was funny, but as she paged through it, she thought it was a little weird. I’d seen the book when I was buying the Wimpy Kid book and I thought it was an interesting spin-off of the popular series (though it’s not by Jeff Kinney). To say the least, she was a little unsure about this one, but appreciated the book nevertheless. (She is a big Wimpy Kid fan!)

Hubby and I did not receive books but we did get each other a gift card to Barnes & Noble, so we were happy with that. Yay! We get to buy a new book! I know just the one I’ll be buying: The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

The kids were happy about getting books but I think they were really excited to get the things they really wanted for Christmas. For Jennifer, it was a Dragon Ball Z Kai game for her DS and for Jesse, it was a remote controlled Mater. (He likes the Cars movies.)

And I got what I really wanted, too: A PRINTER!!!!!!! YAY! I GOT A PRINTER! I GOT A PRINTER! FINALLY!!! I GOT A PRINTER!!!!!!! WOO-HOO!!!

I was sooooo happy to get a printer. I actually excitedly jumped up and down when I saw it! Hubby got a super-big hug and kiss from me for that! He knows I really wanted a printer. The last time he got me a printer was on Valentine’s Day, I think … about seven years ago. It had conked out on us eventually and we’d been printer-less since. And I’d been taking many trips to a local Office Depot to get stuff printed out : A contract from my publisher, notes for an article that I needed to use my Hi-Liters on, interviews for book projects and resumes. Now I would not need to do that anymore. BECAUSE I GOT A PRINTER!!!!

Hm, I sure am gonna miss the folks at Office Depot who have grown so familiar to me because of all of those trips there to get stuff printed…

NOT!

BECAUSE I GOT A PRINTER!!!!! YAY!!

You can tell I am excited about this, right?? I told hubby it was funny that he got me a printer because I spent some time on Friday loading stuff onto the flash drive that I was going to take to Office Depot to get printed out. Now I don’t have to do that. BECAUSE I GOT A PRINTER!!!!

OK, OK. Enough of that. Heh.

As to gifts for hubby, Jennifer got him a book light (which was on his list) and Jesse got him an Oregon coffee cup. We had tried to get him a pirate coffee cup, because the one he had broke, but there weren’t any black ones at Fred Meyer. Only pink ones. (Jennifer has the pink one. The two of them share a like of pirates. Arr!)

And something else I got him was a chainsaw. I’d wanted to get him one in the past, but when Jennifer heard about that, she got really scared and begged me not to get him one. I didn’t understand why the thought of her dad having a chainsaw scared her so much. Good grief, it’s not like she has ever seen the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies. She’s seen characters using chainsaws on TV shows, but never in a violent way. I wanted to get him one because, well, we live in the Northwest! He should have one! (He is a Mountain Man in the making. Heh.) So when I went to get his gift from me, Jesse was with me. At this point in time, Jennifer was not so scared of the idea of her dad having a chainsaw anymore. But this time, it was Jesse’s turn to be scared of it! I was confused over how frightened he acted at the store when we were looking at the chainsaws. He actually tried to convince me to get his dad a leaf blower instead! (Sure, a leaf blower is fun, but they are insanely loud. I have read a lot of letters in the local paper from people complaining about the noise from those things, so I did not buy one for him.) I got him the chainsaw anyway and I guess Jesse was relieved when the cashier covered the box with paper bags after I told her that, yes, it was a Christmas gift. After hubby unwrapped it yesterday, he took it out of the box later on. Jesse chose that moment to walk into the room and he saw the chainsaw. I watched him fearfully back up, his eyes never leaving that thing. (What the heck???) I assured him it was okay, he didn’t need to be scared and it was safe to look at it. Once I calmed him of his fear, he grew curious about the chainsaw and walked over to examine it. Hubby held it up for him and even answered a couple of questions Jesse had about it. That pretty much got him over his fear and he seemed to be okay with it after that. He went right back to playing with his RC Mater.

After all was settled down from the unwrapping of gifts and excitement over presents, it was time for a Christmas tradition in our home: Eating cinnamon rolls while watching A Christmas Story. Jennifer, however, also wanted scrambled eggs with her cinnamon roll, and Jesse also wanted yogurt. (I had some scrambled eggs, too. It was a nice complement to the rolls!) I called my mother to wish her a merry Christmas then soon it was time to get Christmas dinner started. This year, hubby made the turkey for Thanksgiving, which was a nice change because A: I got a break from making the Thanksgiving turkey! And B: It gave him a chance to work his culinary skill in the kitchen. (He is a good chef!) This year, he took over making the Christmas ham, as well. It was REALLY good!!

The day ended with me and the kids cuddled up on the couch to watch A Christmas Carol. This year, I’d been fixated on A Christmas Carol (for some reason! I even mentioned the story in a Christmas story I am currently writing) and this version of the story, with George C. Scott, was the latest movie version we were watching. It was good, but we all agreed it was not the best one. Sorry, people, I still like the one with Patrick Stewart the best. Jennifer likes that one, too, but the one with Mickey Mouse is her all-time favorite.

Well, I do still need to watch a couple more before reaching a final decision on which one I like best. But, I gotta tell ya, I can only take so much of Tiny Tim saying, “And God bless us, everyone.” I’m ready to cover my eyes and scream at the top of my lungs, “Enough, already!!” And God bless us, everyone. And God bless us, everyone. And God bless us, everyone. All right, kid. We get it.

When we were eating dinner, Jennifer told me, “This is the best Christmas ever.” I had to agree. Even though the kids did fight a couple of times, it was still a good Christmas and we all enjoyed being together on this special day.

P.S. I GOT A PRINTER!!!!!