Christmas before dawn

We here at Diva Ranch got up at 4 this morning. We just couldn't wait any longer. Okay, so it wasn't by pure choice and anticipation that we got up at 4 to open gifts - it was because Paul decided that getting paid double time was worth working on Christmas Day. I guess I see his point, but man it was realllllly hard to drag myself out of that bed at 4 when I'd only just gotten into it at 12:30. I made the kids lie down at 8 because I was too exhausted to go on any longer. Kady made me set an alarm for 9:30, though, because the My Little Pony A Very Minty Christmas was coming on then. Let me say, I'd rather watch You, Me and Dupree than A Very Minty Christmas, but I didn't tell her that. We started watching it and then thankfully remembered that the Disney World Christmas parade was on ABC so we sent Kady and her minty rear to my bedroom to finish it.

Paul and I didn't exchange gifts this year since WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD IN 3 1/2 WEEKS!!!! (Oh, sorry. I sometimes burst into fits of screaming and hollering when I think about the trip.) The kids, however, got me some counted cross stitch kits. I've already started on one. When I opened it Abby said, "Uhh...Mom....I wasn't sure you'd be able to do it. I mean, it's a house and all and I didn't think you'd ever done a house before." I assured her that I was perfectly capable of stitching a house just fine. At least I think I am...

Paul left for work a little after 5 and the kids and I have been in our pajamas all day. Paul got home around 2:30, put on his new pajamas and promptly fell asleep in his recliner. I love Christmas. Tater made a meal with all the trimmings and invited us, but we declined due to the fact that neither of us felt like we would be safe driving. She makes a huge meal every year and invites Mom and us. The deal is, if you want to come, come. If you don't, they're not offended, but you get no leftovers. Last year we partook, but we also didn't get up at 4am.

Last night we had Christmas Eve with Mom and Uncle David. The kids made out like bandits, as usual. Abby's main gift was a huge bag of Babysitter's Club books. Kady got some Disney princess doll clothes and a micro mini with leggings, among other things. Sam got an uber cool SpongeBob pinball machine and some Cars cars and a multitude of other things. They all three got DisneyWorld autograph books because WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD IN 3 1/2 WEEKS (Oops, I did it again) and some other Disney paraphenalia. Mom got all four of us grownups Eskimo Joe's Oklahoma Bicentennial t-shirts, which rawk. She got me a shirt that says, "Because I'm the Queen, that's why". (And really, what more needs to be said?) She also got me some delovely earrings that I never would've gotten myself because if they don't come in a multi-pack at Wal*Mart I don't indulge.

Mom got TotOne a Littlest Pet Shop dog that when you put its bottle up to its mouth it licks. It's cuter'n all get out. Mom said, "TotOne, hold that bottle up to it's mouth and see what it does." She did and when the dog started moving it's mouth on the bottle TotOne exclaimed, "IT SUCKS!!" Not quite the exclamation Mom was going for, but it did make us all laugh.

After the presents were all opened and the trash was cleaned up, Mom had us gather around the table and proceded to torture our brains with these evil, evil puzzles from the learning store in Joplin. 3 squares by 3 squares covered in impossible patterns was enough to make smoke roll out of my ears. I do not do abstract-y thinking puzzles very well. I just don't like to think that hard! Mom paired up with Uncle David, Tater and Bub were a team and Paul and I, who do not work well together on things like that, were a team. And only because my husband is a whiz at puzzles, we managed to solve two and no one else solved any in the hour that we worked on them. He nearly had a third one conquered, but it was after 9 and we had to get up early and still had so much to do. I got fidgety shortly after we started on the third one and went to play with the kids while he sat at the table constantly moving puzzle pieces around, cursing under his breath and spitting in his Dr. Pepper can. On the way home he said, "If you'd have just left me alone for another 10 minutes I could've solved it!" I patted him on the leg and said, "Honey, if you'd have worked on that puzzle for another 10 minutes, there would've been no Christmas Eve nookie for you. So hush."

I have had such a wonderful, relaxing day! It's 6:15pm and I'm still in my TinkerBell pajamas. I love Christmas. We declared after Sam was born that we would no longer be attending any family gatherings on Christmas Day. We got tired of giving the kids gifts and then rushing them around to get ready, making them leave their amazing new toys and go to at least three different houses during the day (because we're insanely dysfunctional, ya know.) We just flat out declared our refusal and pissed off a whole slew of relatives in the process, but we've had stupendous Christmases ever since. And after that first year, the anger wore off and now the families are very good about accomodating us and the Taters, who have declared the same thing. The only reason we went to Tater's last year was because there was no food in the house and we were hungry. Desperate times will cause you to lay aside a refusal occasionally.

I hope y'all have had a phenomenal day, too! I hope all of your Christmas dreams came true and you got all the toys you wanted. Me, I'm content with GOING TO DISNEY WORLD IN 3 1/2 WEEKS!!!!

Merry Christmas, ya'll!