Thursday, December 28, 2006

And so it ends for another year. . .

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas full of great food, family, and most importantly, memories.

Here in Florida, we had a wonderful holiday. It started with Steve (my father-in-law) pretending to be Santa Claus for the boys. It's an experience I'll always cherish. We had him dress up like Santa, come in after the boys were asleep and make enough noise to wake them. Then, we snuck them out into the living room and let them catch a glimpse of the jolly ol' man themselves. The looks on their faces was so completely priceless. I hope it's something they remember for years to come. And most of all, I hope it buys us just a few more years with Bob believing in Santa and the magic that goes along with that.

We did end up going to the in-laws house for a little bit but it wasn't so bad after all. We just went there, open gifts and left. Wow, now that I write that out, it sounds pretty cold but it really wasn't. They had been here for the morning and watched the boys open their gifts, then they left, the boys played for a while, then we headed over there to open more gifts. By the time that was all over with, it was after 7:00 and we still had not eaten dinner. So we headed home and ended the evening with a wonderful assortment of snacks and appetizers until our bellies were full, then we traveled downtown for a quick walk around the circle to look at the Christmas lights, and by the time we got home both boys were fast asleep.

Now, here I sit, with two spoiled children ( I think they ended up with something like 30 gifts a piece this year), a messy house, and enough left-overs in the fridge to last for days which is a good thing because after what we spent this holiday we're broke! Yep, Ti's the season!

Now it's time for parents everywhere to breathe that sigh of relief we all feel when this holiday comes to a close. We survived another year. And, for me, it's also time for that little twinge of sadness to come. I love Christmas. I love the preparation of it. I love the anticipation. I love the stress. But most of all, I love the magic it brings. There is nothing like spending hours upon hours in the mall hunting for that perfect gift for every special person on your list, only to suddenly find what you've been after. The thing you can't wait for them to open, so much so that it's killing you to keep it a secret. You start counting down the days until that perfect little treasure is revealed. So much adrenaline, so much power, so many memories. . .

. . . Yeah, that feeling, it's a feeling I long for all year long. A feeling that only Christmas can bring. . . .

So, until next year ol' friend. . . . I'll be waiting.

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