Thanks for the tacklehugs, folks. My family here are doing OK for the most part: it's been a very up-and-down year.

May all the news today be good, for all of us.

Karl! Adds a smooch to the tacklehug.

My Christmas wish came true. BIL's EVIL wife had to work and he arrived with his son but no wife. Yay! Sorry, but her being here never ends well. She would end up fighting with DH and I would be miserable. Yay!

Karl, your wish for us is apparently working so far. How would you feel about wishing for a five-pound box of hundred dollar bills for me? Also, hi, hello, good to see you again.

Yay, Laura, you deserve a lovely stress-free, Evil SiL-free day!

Karl! Good to see you!

Lovely to hear about everyone's festivities.

I couldn't find anywhere to buy potatoes, not even canned, so there will be no latkes tonight. I'm such a grasshopper. I need to get in touch with my inner ant and unpack some more, haven't found teh wireless router yet.

And Laura, if she's evil, I'm glad she isn't there.

We've been dragged out of bed, opened gifts. My sister and my niece have yelled at each other. The word "Bitch" has been used by each of them at least a dozen times. My niece's father has come and picked her up. My Dad has yelled about someone losing the phone. My sister is now blustering around in the kitchen complaining about how she has to do everything. I won't go near the kitchen anymore. I cooked Xmas dinner the year Mom had her first hip replacement and all my sister did was complain about how everything was done wrong. As such, I won't go near there.

Now they are complaining about one of my niece's cousins (From her Dad's side). She's been referred to as a bitch and that no one can stand her, and a few other choice words.

Ah, the sounds of Christmas.

Oh, I got a book, a CD, a DVD, and a check.

Pours brandy in Drew's general direction.

whee! that great news laura!

we opened presents - I nw have a portable DVD player which is a real luxerey -it has serenity in it. and the cat was very annoyed by one present my mom sent..( a stuffed cat that meows a christmas song) Matt liked his new portable, foldup workbench -- I ws very pleased with myself for finding it. he is not useing it because it is cold and damp in the garage. WE have cool stuff from Japan and My BIL picked up stuff in sweeden including a scotch I haven't had before - that is of course not from sweeden

and right now I am wearing a snuggle sack and silly slipper socks -- I don't actually know what to call what I am wearing - a giant fleece union suit .

Yeah, I just need to chill. Not have expectations. I just had this vision of Ellie's Firt Christmas and it's not working out that way. It will be okay, I know. I'm going to try vw's radical acceptance thing and see if that helps. After all, it's been a fine day, just not what I thought.

One thing to remember is that it is all transparent to Ellie, anyhow. We were still in try-to-go-to-everyone's-house mode on Ben's first Christmas. Between that, and him being 11 months old, and not old enough to even care about presents, I was near tears for a couple of hours, 'til I took a reality check.

...

It's a changing world, Stephanie. When I was a kid and when my daughter was younger, we could barely last through breakfast without opening presents. Most of the time, we didn't.

Our presents were done before breakfast. I think they always are. Santa doesn't wrap the presents he leaves for our kids, and there's no way we'd be allowed to live if we tried to get them to eat breakfast, first, with unwrapped presents in the living room.

Oh, I got a book, a CD, a DVD, and a check.

At least it isn't a sweater and a Macy's gift card...?