We Survived

Christmas was chaotic and loud, but we survived. Luke was so tired on Christmas morning that everyone was awake before he was. In fact my brother came in and woke him up; this was the same brother who used to want to open presents at 4am on Christmas because it was finally Christmas. I was a little annoyed with everyone because he was very deliberately going through his stocking and everyone was trying to hurry him up. This time will go by quickly enough as it is; what does it matter if it takes a few extra minutes? Sure enough, he caught on that many of the presents under the tree were for him and they were all opened in no time.

I will have to get a photo hosting service that allows images to be posted directly instead of just links (stupid webshots). I took a number of pictures during Christmas and the ensuing Lego aftermath. I spent 8.5 hours on Christmas day assembling legos, stopping for church and cooking/eating. "Santa" got him the Hogwarts castle lego set, my dad got him the Durmstrang ship, and between us and other relatives he got the Shrieking Shack, Hogwarts Express, Merpeople, Dobby's Release (a little one, yay), some construction legos, Star Wars legos, etc. He is too spoiled and I know it is largely my fault. To his credit we did start to go through his old toys to see what he doesn't play with anymore and have taken a large batch of duplo-sized mega bloks to preschool already.

My mother's friend actually annoyed me more than my mother this year. He barks and makes wierd animal noises at regular intervals; it got old really fast and I do not understand it. She was a lot better than last year, definitely. My youngest brother really pissed us off at church on Christmas eve; he was loud and disrespectful and he's not allowed to come with us anymore until he can grow up. Fortunately I was four people away from him so I couldn't hear what he was saying, but Jay was angry with him and he doesn't even go to church usually. Christmas eve is the only time all year that he attends with me and sometimes I think it is only so he can sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" since he loves to sing that song.

Anyway, Jay slept all day Monday out of exhaustion from dealing with my family. I spent the day cleaning and doing laundry (well it wasn't going to do itself, was it?). I need some serious downtime and I don't know when I'll be getting it. Tomorrow I'm taking Luke to Legoland for the day and then we're going to go to my friend's new year's eve party. Today is Jay's birthday so we'll probably go out to dinner. I still need to take Luke to see Narnia, as I promised him we would do. I am working Monday to save my holiday time for Tuesday since leave early Tuesday morning to drive to Brian Head, Utah for three days. We'll still be there for Luke's birthday which is next Thursday. I can't believe he's going to be five in just six days. I still need to wrap his birthday presents that are hiding in the garage. We're having his party in the middle of the month at a big place called "Pump it Up" which has a variety of inflatable bouncies, obstacle courses, etc. He has requested a Harry Potter ice cream cake so I need to order that soon also.

I have not exercised since last Saturday though I did successfully avoid the egg nog shake temptation last night when we ate at the Chicken Pie Diner. I know I indulged too much over the holidays. Well, it's nearly lunchtime so I'll try to eat something healthy and then get some more work done this afternoon. It's unlikely I'll post again until after the trip unless I get a new photo hosting page set up to share pictures from Christmas. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Year!