There's room for one in the downstairs family room

There were three things Jack wanted for Christmas: Legos (as always), a camera, and an iPod touch. Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. No iPod this year. Santa's pockets aren't quite that deep, so Jack will probably have to buy his own like Taylor did.

I had worked really hard to try to convince Taylor she wasn't getting anything at all because she's been bad, but since she has actually not been all THAT bad, Santa came through with a few things, including the iTunes gift card, which was the only thing she had said she wanted. She also got a beautiful cedar chest that my dad built for her.

Addie wanted it all: Barbies, American Girl dolls . . . more barbies, more dolls . . . and a Snuggie. Our Santa is a sucker for a deal, so she got a knock-off Snuggie and a knock-off American Girl doll. She's too young yet to read/care about labels, which is just as well since our Santa isn't much for labels. She also got a scooter, which she promptly fell off on her way to her friend's house and skinned her knee. She is not the most graceful child in the world.

Jack got one of those paddles with the little ball on a string, which kept him and us quite entertained all morning, since he is not good at it. The little ball lit up when it got hit (it didn't light up a lot since Jack was mostly flailing about rather than hitting it) but it looked pretty cool.

The kids even played a board game nicely together . . . for a little while. Before the game ended Taylor got bored and quit. Her punishment for ruining it for everyone was that she had to clean it all up. I guess she didn't learn her lesson, because she pulled the same stunt the next day.

Me . . . well, I was just happy to stay home all day in my jammies. I didn't shower. I didn't even brush my hair. I refused to let the guilt of family obligation get to me about going out for the traditional round of visiting. I stayed home and ate chocolate, played with my kids, laughed at Jack when he hit himself with the paddle ball thingy, enjoyed the fire in the fireplace (a real wood fire, not a modern gas fire), took a nap, and made the very un-Christmas-y dinner of Navajo Tacos. It was as perfect a Christmas as I have ever had, as an adult at least. The only thing thing that could have made it more perfect was if that nasty snow snorm of Tuesday could have come on Christmas morning. A snow storm quickly changes from nasty to beautiful when you don't have to go out in it.

And now that Christmas is over, I have the itch to get it all put away quickly. That's tomorrow's project. And then I'm off to Walmart to see if I can find a screamin' deal on Christmas Tree #3.