Merry, Merry, Merry!

Christmas Eve brought the promise of a white Christmas to Oklahoma, the likes of which we haven't seen in YEARS. A blizzard warning even! Talk about exciting times. Because of said impending DOOM Paul decided I needed one of my presents early - a 64GB iPod Touch. I cried. Seriously. My mother says it is a true sign of my geekiness that I cried over an electronic device.

Christmas morning I woke up at 3:30. I absolutely could NOT go back to sleep! I checked my Facebook and Twitter from my BRAND NEW ITOUCH, laid there and watched it snow, checked my email, then my Facebook again.....then it occured to me that I had forgotten to bring in one of Ab's presents from the playhouse where it had been housed for the past month so I woke Paul up with a series of jabs to the ribs. And well, since he was awake I figured I'd go ahead and go pee and get a drink. I peeked into Kady's room and saw a mysterious glowing from her bed - she was playing her DS. I asked what she was doing. Without ever taking her eyes from the screen she said, "Can't sleep, playing new game, did Santa come, is it time to get up?" I laughed and said, "Hon, it's 4am. Wanna come get in bed with Daddy and me?" As she was climbing down from her loft I looked in on Sam who was sitting on the side of his bed. Seeing him sitting there made me scream and hearing me scream made him scream. After recovering I said, "Come on, you and Kady both can come get in bed with Daddy and me."

I made them cover their eyes as we walked past the living room then we all three pounced on the bed to make sure Paul knew we had arrived. He groaned, but it was a good-natured groan. We all four settled into the Queen bed that suddenly felt narrow as a church camp bunk bed and we'd all get quiet then bust into giggles. After about 20 minutes of that Paul sighed and said, "Go wake up Abby. I cannot lay here a minute longer with you three morons. I'll go get Ab's present from the playhouse, you go wake her up. You other two? Stay where you are. No peeking." And even though Ab had threatened us with bodily harm if we woke her up a minute before 7:30 I marched into her room and told her to get up. From beneath the quilts, blankets and pillows I heard, "Is it freakin' 1am? Because if it is I am SO hurting you." I said, "Nope. It's just a little after 5. Get up." She flipped the covers back, revealing her cranky face and said, "You have GOT to be KIDDING me. You people are weird."

This is a quick shot of the clock just as we were starting to open presents.

Santa brought gifts in polka-dotted bags this year! It led to some serious mystery, which I liked. Since I KNOW Sam sneaks up front every year to pilfer before anyone else gets up, at least this year it would've been harder for him to do - ya know, if we hadn't ALL gotten up so early.

Most kids complain when they get socks for Christmas. Not Abby - she got a whole entire box of socks. I bet there were 20 pair. She was STOKED. The kids loves her some socks.

Santa apparently has serious connections because he brought four - FOUR! - Zhu Zhu pets to our house! FOUR! He should've brought Kady a comb.

Not only did my teenager love the socks she got from Santa, she also loved the box of books! She got a huge box of Fear Street books by R.L. Stein. She'll be reading until Spring. Or until next week if we keep getting snow.

Even though he had squealed and hollered and whooped like a spider monkey on meth, my son declared this to be The Best Present Ever - a bell from Santa's sleigh. Seriously. No kidding. I cried.

And my skinny-jeans-wearing 13 year old fashionista who abhors all things Country and writhes in anguish if she has to listen to one twang of a song about heartbreak and pickup trucks now owns a pair of camouflage Justin boots. She's nothing if not diverse.

The last-minute gift I threw in for Sam, a Ripley's Believe It or Not book, was a huge hit. Why, I do not know.

And after presents and breakfast and ZhuZhu pets and a nap....Kady played in the snow for only the third time in her little eight years. She was clearly happy.

Hope y'all had a good one, too!

We're expecting 3 more inches of snow tonight and wow, I am so excited I may go perform a root canal on myself to celebrate.