What Our Christmas Was Like

Our Christmas holiday stretched for several days, making it an interesting and hectic experience. (BTW, if anyone wants a tired and whiny toddler, I have one to share this morning.)

It started on Sunday, the 23rd. We traveled down to Kentucky to my aunt's house. There we shared appetizers and finger foods, watching my daughter be a screaming heathen. My cousin has a little girl who is just a bit older than Piper, and both girls brought bags of toys to play with while visiting. Piper decided that my cousin's girl's toys were hers and that her toys were hers. When my mother and I were making Piper share, my aunt, my cousin, and his wife were all trying to tell us that it was okay for Piper to hog all the toys! Not so much in my book, so we had screaming battle of wills. Lessen learned: Piper needs more play dates with other kids.

On Christmas Eve, we loaded up and arrived at my parents' house for brunch. It was a good experience. My mom's parents live with my parents, so there were several of us. We filled ourselves with all sorts of wonderful breakfast foods, then opened presents. Since Mom keeps Piper during the week, she redid Piper's bedroom with all sorts of big girl stuff for her Christmas. There was a toddler bed, a kitchen, a table and chairs, and she got some bath toys. It was good for her.

I got a new MP3 player that I'd wanted. It has a radio, records voice, and records radio directly to the player. It also features a pedometer, stopwatch and some other nifty things. The ear buds on it are different than others, and quite comfortable, too. They also got me Barnes & Noble and Starbucks gift cards. My husband got a Visa gift card, as he is the hardest person in the world to shop for.

In the evening, we went to his mother's house for pizza and presents. Piper got a tent, sleeping bag, etc. combo thing, some clothes and his sister got her a Cabbage Patch doll named Piper. I got some fu-fu smelly stuff and some cash. My husband got some cash and I don't know what else. Not a bad evening.

Christmas Day, we learned that Santa had brought Piper a Dora kitchen and a Dora ATV. Even though Piper doesn't watch TV, I think it's Dora's friendly face that has attracted her to the character. She also got a some accessories to take care of her babies and some extra food items to use in her kitchen. Mommy and Daddy got her the Little People Sarah Lynn Camping Adventure.

The husband went out and bought his gift from me for himself. That's not that different or new. We do things oddly and backwards for the most part. It works for us, no matter what others may say. Seriously, I said something about wanting a new vacuum, and when he told the guys at work, they insisted that if that's all he got me, then I would be pissy about. Really? Last time I checked, I'm not really in to jewelry and other seriously girly stuff. Never have been, and it drives me crazy when others assume that I can't be different. One year, he got me a stove and a dishwasher for Christmas and anniversary (I don't remember which gift was which, as they run so close together.). I was happy as could be to have good, working appliances to make my life easier.

But back to the gifts. I haven't decided what I want my gift from him to be yet, so I don't have anything, and I'm not too worried about it right this second. Around noon, we went to his aunt's house to do his family's thing. Piper got some new clothes and a pink poodle purse for her name draw gift. His grandmother got her a stick pony, pink cowboy boots, and a Little People farm (which she's had for awhile at Mom's, but I was saying a thing). Christopher got some kind of cologne, and some other stuff I never got to see. I got some Victoria Secret smelly stuff that I like, a cute little picture frame, and a Barnes & Noble gift card.

In grand total, I have $75 in B&N gift cards, which makes me a very happy woman. The holidays have been grand. Tomorrow, we have to go and do stuff with my mom's family, which is just food, conversation, and white elephant gifts. It's usually a good time.

Now that I've written my huge narrative, and I know the answer for some, but did everyone have a good holiday?