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...?

Cindy, insent to your profile addy. Nothing urgent, just something I thought you'd appreciate.

Oops, I accidentally posted in JZ's window.

Drew, maybe xmas with Kristin next year and you fly your niece out for non-holiday fun get togethers.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Mine's nearly over, and I think I'm sobering up. Methinks it's time to armtwist my sister into Trivial Pursuits. Or maybe Scrabble. Also the Christmas Doctor WHo was fabulous. Evryone should have aChristmas Doctor Who. Wiat, hang on. Nope, still drunk. Maybe I just need another glass of Chamagne. Yeah, that can't hurt.

I'd love xmas with Kristin and avoid the family, but the simple fact is that mom is in poor health and has been for a few years, so if she's still around next xmas there's no way I can't be here.

hugs, Karl!

ND, someday you will have a perfect christmas...

I just tried to call my family - no one answered thier phones...