Only 363 Shopping Days Till Christmas!

Sigh...

It's over.

I'm glad!

I love Christmas and I think I am one of the few people on earth who is not stressed out this time of year.....but man, I am always glad when it's over.

We had a wonderful weekend. Friday (Little Christmas Eve), my friend Jeannie came over to partake of a Norwegian (re: fishy food) feast with me. We had clam chowder, shrimp, and she was kind enough to bring Glogg. Glogg is very, very important.

Preparations were the key to Christmas Eve. One must make the blue mush, cookies for Santa, and basically run around breathlessly with excitement for a good 14 hours before finally going to bed. By the end of the day Maya wanted to go to bed at 6:00 because "it just seems like 5 minutes or something until you're awake again." That girl has some logic. (I've always said she was part Vulcan. Her one pointy ear is a dead give-away.)

Sophie and Maya wrote a note to Santa that said....

"Dear Santa,

How are you? We hope you're good.

Do you know our names? If you do write them. ______ ________

Have we been good this year? Maya______ Sophie________

We love you.

Maya and Sophie"

(hmmm.... I wonder if their names are.... Maya and Sophie?)

Santa, of course, responded with the correct names and both the girls got a "very good". He also added that he was very proud of them because they are kind and treat each other with respect. (You must take advantage of every opportunity for positive reinforcement!)

I stuffed stockings, set out the Santa gifts, ate all but one bite of the cookies, dumped out the milk (Santa might like milk, but not me!), emptied the blue mush, dumped cornstarch on the front step and drew in a reindeer track...... well, you get the picture. And I was well rewarded with one more year of the Santa magic still intact!

whew....it was a close one.

The next day was chaos, joy, abundance and laughter. What a great day. The girls got tons of toys from their Dad and I (of course) got them clothes and more useful things. I was able to get a bit grandiose this year and purchased a beautiful piano keyboard. It's awesome. Same size and feel as a real piano, but it takes up tons less room. Oh, and it has 500 different "voices" - guitar, grand piano, flute.....dog barking, space ships..... all the important stuff. They were absolutely shocked. And incredibly excited to start piano lessons next Monday.

I got Sophie a beautiful easel. She is very serious about becoming an artist, you know. When she opened it she just sat and stared at the picture on the box for quite a long time. I asked her if she was okay, and she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "Wow. Mommy it looks - expensive." She was overwhelmed. By an easel. At six.

Cool.

Maya's favorite thing was something that I picked up last minute at Costco. You know how everything comes in large economy sizes there? Well, this little girls makeup kit that I got her came in a econo-sized suitcase. There is enough glitter and fruity smelling lip gloss in there to keep her smelling like papayas and glittering like a Vegas show girl for at least a few years. It was ridiculous and unnecessary.

That's what made it great.

(Just a side note: I only let her wear all this stuff at home. Don't look at me like that.)

And me? I got some gift cards from family, an alarm clock (so I don't have to use my old beat up watch anymore), and wonder of wonders....a Minnesota Vikings fleece pullover.

I have been a Vikings fan since I was little and they were actually good. The "Purple People Eaters" phase. The shock of this gift is that it came from John (the girls Dad). You see, we don't really get along that well..... my very first post on this blog is about him. Most of the time, I deal with him in toleration-mode for the girls. Sometimes I barely do that. But sometimes he can come right out and shock me with something good. ("Something good" usually runs along the lines of offering me a piece of gum.) But that sweatshirt was a big deal. And I'll tell you why...

John is a HUGE sports junkie. He knows everything about every sport. It's creepy. If you're watching a basketball game, he will mention some abstract thing about a player and then three seconds later the announcer will say the same thing. No one should ever know what much about sports without a teleprompter.

He's also from New York. Probably enough said. (Rabid fan of the Yankees, the Knicks and the Jets) If you are not rooting for a New York team, you are basically a pile of crap as far as he is concerned. He teases me unmercifully about the Vikings. One year they actually got in the playoffs, and when the lost I cried and cried. He laughed, jumped up and down, and pointed at me.

A lot.

When we were together he would get me gifts that weren't really fitting to me. Jewelry, perfume... all nice to have, but not really something that I love. One year he got me the perfect gift. I thought he finally had me figured out and that it was a sure sign that we would be together forever.

He got me Tom Brokaw's biography.

How I love Tom Brokaw. He is my dream man.

Anyway.......I still have the book, but John is long gone......

So the sweatshirt was nice. It doesn't mean that I have to like him or anything. But it was nice.

All in all, it was a wonderful few days.

I hope all of yours were great, too!