The Holidays are FINALLY over...

Every year I think I'll be more prepared for the holidays before they get here, but every year I am wrong. I am out there with the rest of you, fighting my way through crowds on the weekend before Christmas and swearing not to do it this way again! But, I made it through the hustle and bustle and had a great Christmas, albeit very busy!

From the first blog you can see where we had been wrapping presents. The wondrous bows made by Eric in the picture. By the way, that bow fell off before Christmas. Imagine that! Anyways, we were no where near being finished at that time. The weekend before Christmas and the week of consisted of non-stop shopping. Eric has really learned to love shopping! LOL! By Christmas Eve we were finished.

I got off work at 5 that day, Eric at 3:20. About 4, I texted him and asked if he'd be ready to load up and head out when i got off at 5 (we were headed to Katy for Christmas with my family).  The text i received in response to my question read:

"Aye cap'n"

Sounding pretty sure of himself. I run out of work at 5 expecting to get home and him be ready to load the car while I took a minute to get ready to head out. As I walk in the door I can hear the shower running. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! I swear I am living with the master of procrastination. As he finally got out, he seems confused that I am home. "Oh," he says, "I didn't realize what time it was." His typical response. As I reassured him we had plenty of time and began loading the car myself, I was secretly cursing him under my breath the whole time. I may be a little anal about leaving on time but he is so far from trying to be on time that this is a major conflict.

I held it together and we finally made it to Katy. I walked in the door to see Griffin watching a Christmas movie, Mom in the kitchen cooking, and my sister bustling around the house with a stressed out look on her face.  This is a normal look for my sister. Sounds like a typical Christmas Eve, right? Well, we weren't here to stay. We unloaded and reloaded the car to head to my dad's house for Christmas with that family(whoever says you get more presents when your parents are divorced, the fun dies down when you are grown and no papers determine who you spend a holiday with.) 

Dad's house is always really laid back. It was odd this year though because they weren't in their house due to damage from Hurricane Ike. We had Christmas at the house they are renting. Unbeknownst to me, we were supposed to bring our swimsuits since they had heated the pool for us. Thanks Griff for getting that message to us!

Nice, huh . Only in Texas can you swim on Christmas Eve. Don't get me wrong, the pool was heated. So only Griffin had his suit and Eric was able to put on some athletic shorts to swim. The rest of us were stuck taking pictures, see above......

We finally went inside and did the gift exchange. I was thrilled to get a new kitchen clock as I requested. This will be replacing the one currently in the kitchen with primary colors and fruits on it. Just not my style! 

So about 10:30 we head back to my sister's house. As we pull in the driveway she resumes her stressed out look. Remember I said my mom was in the kitchen? She was cooking Christmas Eve dinner, and now, at 11 pm, we were expected to sit down to a nice dinner.  This explains the stressed out look on my sister's face. I, for one, do not mind doing this once a year. I can roll with the late night agenda since it makes everyone happy. My sister has a harder time hiding her frustration, but she tried and I'll give her credit for that. We ate with no major drama at the dinner table.

After eating, and then cleaning, we headed out to my sister's friends house where Santa was leaving all of Griff's stuff. On the way over, Eric decides to take a short nap in the back seat (since he had no time to relax from 3:20 til 5 when i got off). If he had known how Amy drove, he probably would have worn a seat belt. As she came to a screeching halt since  she missed the street she needed to turn on, Eric comes crashing to the floorboard! I was pretty certain his nap was over.

Anyways, we made it back to my sister's house and we all took turns riding the bike Santa left for Griffin. After that Eric and mom both hit the sack!! This left Amy and I to shut it all down. This is how it always is. And it is at this time every year on Christmas Eve, she loses her stressed out look. As we settled in with a glass of wine, here is what we were looking at.....

wow! What a beautiful site! I love to see this every year when we finally get it all done. I know that we are probably a little spoiled since we do seem to go overboard on gifts. But really, we are not. We just enjoy our one time of year that we have to give to each other. I don't have family that lives down the street and can take me shopping anytime, nor can I do it for them. Don't get me wrong, I do know that Christmas is not about the gifts. It is about the birth of Christ. But gifts are a way of celebrating Christ's birthday, right?

So, at 7:30 am my mother is banging on the bedroom door to get up and letting my dog in....

I roll over and nudge Eric who growls back at me. I am starting to smell the coffee so I am coming to life. I tried sweetly to wake him but he was having none of it. It was just too early for him. So I just left him there. This normally doesn't prompt him to get up but he was right behind me. Secretly, I think he really couldn't wait to get to gifts...he's very much like a little kid sometimes!!

Christmas morning went as usual, but with an addition to the family this year. Eric seems to fit right in so I guess I did alright! He even got his own stocking with his name on it. It lights up too. Somebody in my family loves him!!

We all went through the motions of everyone unpacking their stockings and the buckets mom has added to our stocking since we always seem to have so much overflow!!! Stockings are always my favorite part of the morning. All these little things that are so useful and handy, yet you'd never buy them for yourself. I LOVE IT!!!

We went through gifts galore and I think everyone got everything they wanted. All except Griffin who asked for an xbox. I, personally, was surprised that there was anything he could ask for and NOT get it. But, he never mentioned anything about it. He's always happy with what he gets and a pretty gracious kid (most of the time).

By now, it was time for me and E to pack up and leave. We had Christmas in Beaumont with his family next. We made the long drive home, then showered and dressed and headed over to his Uncle James' house. They have a very big close knit family and everyone was there.  It was full of people, gifts, and food and we had a really good time!! I have no super exciting stories from there because there was so much going on at one time, i had a hard time concentrating!!

By the time we made it home, it was about 5 pm and we were POOPED!! I mean tired. At this point, we had not even exchanged our gifts for each other. I went straight to the couch, but the big kid I call my boyfriend, plopped right down in front of the Christmas tree. He had a big grin on his face so I knew he was excited about getting to these gifts. And, I was excited because we would be done!!! YAY!! He got what he wanted, I got what I wanted. He was overwhelmed with his Vince Young jersey. I am not sure why men think it is necessary to wear the matching jersey of the player in the game they are watching, but it is. So he now has 3 of them and he can rotate them on game days. I got diamond earrings. They were in the box with the funny bow! I knew it wasn't shoes and had a strong suspicion it was earrings to match the necklace I got for my birthday!

SO, finally done. Now i am hungry and we have no food because we haven't been home to eat the last couple of weeks. I am feeling pizza. Eric calls me from walgreens to inform me he got a frozen pizza there and we have company coming over shortly. Yea! I rush to get out of my pj's and back into regular clothes. John shows up and they retreat to the front porch. And, that is where they stayed....

At 8:30 pm, I said my good nights and hit the sack!

And the next day, it was back to work as usual.....

Next time I will blog more often instead of one long, drawn out, probably boring blog. But, I am still new at this and getting used to it. Bye for now!! I am leaving you with the after Christmas picture. Yes, those are stockings on my feet.....