Christmas 2011 and Ending the Year...

Christmas Day was not the nightmare that I envisioned it to be.  Both J. and T. were thrilled with the presents that they received (even if there were a few missing that were on the wish list) and even The Man Thing gave a rare compliment – "You done good Santa.  You done good."

Santa always brings a few sweets and leaves them in their stockings – and scored double points with a huge bag of Smarties and a box of Sour Patch Kids included with some other treats and their traditional holiday socks.

J. has been asking us for the past four years for an XBox 360.  We thought of getting the PlayStation 3 instead – but since T. seemed to be content with the Wii and Wii games, we decided this was the year – finally.  This look on his face will be permanently ingrained in my memory.  He had no idea that this was even a possibility this year (he had become so accustomed to NOT receiving it that he just stopped looking forward to it) and the look of surprise and then delight on his face was just priceless.  It made the wait worthwhile.

T. has an obsession with all things Angry Birds.  Santa hunted high and low for the plush toys or keychain or a T-shirt or something that had anything to do with Angry Birds to no avail.  Being that they were such a hot commodity this year, those of us who did their shopping 48 hours before Christmas morning were pretty much just shit out of luck.  My friend found these Angry Birds stickers while we were walking around at Wal-Mart and I snatched them up.  Who knew that some wall decal stickers would put such excitement on T.'s little face Christmas morning?  His room is now devoid of all his WWE posters and there are Angry Birds plastered EVERYWHERE in his room LOL!

After all the gifts were opened, my children disappeared.  J. to his room to play Modern Warfare 3 on his new game system, under his comfy new comforter for his bed that Santa brought as well – and T. disappeared to his room to decorate it with Angry Birds and then to play with his new games on the Wii.

I made a lovely vegetable dip and served that with some Wheat Thins while my family and guests were waiting for dinner to finish, along with some Hickory Farms summer sausage and cheeses.  Dinner consisted of a baked honey-glazed ham, homemade macaroni and cheese (which was absolutely delicious considering it was the first time I had ever made it – with a little help from my Facebook friends lol), scalloped potatoes, stuffing, collard greens, corn, crescent rolls, and gravy.

By the time everyone had finished dinner and the dishwasher was loaded with round one of the dirty dishes, I was exhausted.  I sat down on the couch to talk with my guests and spend some time with the family...and promptly fell asleep!  Talk about embarrassing!  They understood though and just let me catch a quick nap for about an hour!!!

So, as I said, Christmas Day did not turn out to be the nightmare I had built it up in my head to be; however, I swear upon all that is holy and just that I will not be caught at the last minute again in 2012 rushing around trying to find things that they have asked for for Christmas.  It's layaway or bust this year baby!

Naturally, with Christmas 2011 finished, it is now time to turn our attention to the New Year and all that 2012 will hold for each of us.

It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly the years go by any more. When I was a young girl, I couldn't wait for the years to go by so that I could finally be old enough to be out on my own, to start really living my life. If I only knew then what I know now, I would have cherished those carefree, responsibility-free years and enjoyed them as much as possible. I try to tell my children this constantly – to just enjoy being a child and stop trying to grow up so fast – but just as I did with my own parents – they roll their eyes at me and think to themselves, "Yeah right! What do YOU know?"

So, from me to all of you, I wish you a very happy, blessed, peaceful, prosperous, healthy 2012!