Well, by now I’m sure all of you have rushed to wrap all of your presents, attended a Christmas mass/program, tried to get your exhausted children tucked into bed so Santa would stop by, finished final Christmas Eve “preparations”, grabbed a few hours of sleep, participated in the subsequent frenzy of unwrapping all the presents, cleaned up the wrapping from the presents, possibly made a Christmas dinner, or at least stuffed yourself with someone else’s cooking and now…now you are sitting wondering where has Christmas gone? (And that was all just the past 18 hours or so!)

No wonder we all feel so exhausted come December 26th. And now, having done all of that for 2 kids (as my friend Kimmer said) you can truly appreciate my parents and all of the wonderful Christmas celebrations we have had over the years. It is really, really hard work.

But it is done for another 364 days.

At our house, I just got beat playing a Wii game by my 3-year old. Granted it was a game that requires a little rhythm, which I have not one little bit of. But I think all-in-all it was a very successful and definitely fun Christmas. Christmas really does take on a whole new level once you have kids. Emma was so engrossed in the midnite (actually 9:30) mass last night and seeing the Baby Jesus in the manger. She looked so sweet in her Christmas dress and then promptly fell asleep on my shoulder about 15 minutes into the mass. (Reminded me of when Ken would fall asleep every year at midnite mass when we were kids.)

She woke up long enough to put out her cookies, milk and letter to Santa and was asleep pretty much the minute her head touched the pillow. Addie on the other hand was so tired that she was completely wired, so J. actually took her out into the vestibule and she did not fall asleep til we were nearly home.

When we finally got to bed, (like I said – it is hard work getting the “preparations” completed before morning) and I was lying there I realized I felt that anticipation, that sense of not being able to possibly wait until Christmas morning arrived, and I haven’t felt that since I was a kid. But I was just so excited to see the girls’ excitement the next morning, and we were not disappointed! And even better – there was not one mention of the Butterscotch. Well, E. did name her little ride ‘em pony, Butterscotch, but she did not seem disappointed in the least that the actual Butterscotch wasn’t under the tree. Hooray! Small victory for Mommy and Santa.

At any rate, we are happy and well and ready for a “normal” week. And I hope you also had an amazing Christmas, got to experience some anticipation, some craziness, some good food, and most of all some happiness with your own families.

Merry Christmas!