Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, Everyone! What a lovely day! It has been a whirlwind few days for us! We spent the 21st through the 24th camping at Carlsbad State Beach in San Diego with some dear friends. Fun, fun, fun! Pictures to come! Then we hauled it back in here to Tucson on Christmas Eve....arriving home all campfire lovely and windblown at 5:20 p.m. We managed to shower all five of us top to bottom, change into our Sunday best and attend Christmas Eve services at 6:30. I have to admit that even I was impressed at that little feat! Then Chris' parents and his brother and his wife and her niece all came over and joined us for snacks and family fun while we exchanged gifts with one another. It was nearly 11 p.m. before we had everyone to bed and the guests all on their way. Then Chris and I had another hour and a half or so of little tasks to take care of in preparation for Christmas morning. We hauled our exhausted selves into bed a little before one a.m. and snuggled down for a good nights sleep. Or so we thought. Maxwell came screaming into our bedroom at 4:30 this morning shouting his excitement over the ipod that Santa had left for him under the tree! I tried to share his enthusiasm...but told him quickly that he simply had to go back to bed immediately and stay there for another 2 or 3....or 5 hours. He headed back up the stairs. But I knew that 20 minutes later he had NOT gone back to bed as I had instructed. Afraid that they might wake the little princess at this terrible hour I head up the stairs a little before 5 a.m. and give them the "serious" talk and threat about what will happen if they wake their sister so early. I put them in the dark....shut the door...and under threat of death...put them back to bed. Or so I thought. I SPECIFICALLY told them I did not wish to see them until after 6 or 6:30 a.m...at the earliest. Yet...at 5:45 a.m. Max came back again begging to play his video game that Santa left. I figured that would be good for a solid two hours of peace and sleep...and agreed. I was just drifting back to sleep for the third time when Clara came in, all full of rejoicing that Santa had indeed come and left presents (she'd already seen them she informed us)and announced that she was ready for us ALL to go in and check out the goodies. Chris and I know better than to ignore those demand/commands and we groaned and rolled ourselves right on out of bed. Chris smacked the coffee maker on the way into the living room and we all gathered around and ooohed and aahhed over all the dazzling and intuitive gifts left by the man in the red suit. Such a good job Santa did this year. Boy...that Santa is one sharp cookie! Everyone received what they wanted and the day went off without a hitch. After all that excitement I got to walk with my dear friend Mary. We got in a good little route...though not the power route we have been walking. But that was fine because I arrived home with energy to spare. I set out to put all the new goodies into place within our household, cleaning up all the wrapping paper and running the laundry, dishwasher and vaccuum. It was a very productive afternoon! I'm going to have to leave our Christmas day at that. There's more...but I'm going to wrap this up on a positive note! It is now 8:44 and I can no longer hold my eyes open. The kids show no signs of slowdown at this point. The fact that Clara had a three hour nap is probably boosting her stamina substantially...but I myself, am pooped and have to call it a night! Merry Christmas!