Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

How could it really be only 8 o'clock? It seems like we poured a whole lot of living into today! The girls managed to sleep until 7:30 (bless them!). There was much excitement from PDQ over the Nintendo DS Lite and Hannah Montana game and equal excitement over Baby Alive and her "kid iPod" from Boobah. I am still in shock that Baby Alive is still around, now she talks but she still eats nasty stuff and poops just like 30 years ago. Gman has spent much of the day playing with his new iPod Touch. Given that I couldn't get over that he wanted ANOTHER iPod, I must admit its really freaking cool. Booba has spent the whole day with the head phones on listening to musical stylings from I Wanna Rock to I Been Workin' on the Railroad.

The present we thought they'd be head over heels about--the Wii that I managed to snag without much fanfare back in October. I got a third hand e-mail that Best Buy had 25 of them and drove over in the middle of a work day in the rain to pick it up. I even considered changing the time of a meeting to do it. The warming up might have been slow but the game has been on and everyone from age 40 to 4 has spent time in front of the TV bowling or boxing. The six of us spent a peaceful day together enjoying each others company, which at times over the past 9+ years was hard to imagine. Other than trying to wrestle the sleep deprived 4 y.o. into submission there hasn't been a cross word uttered all day.

We spent time with friends this evening. Every year they have a big Christmas party Christmas afternoon. The first time we were invited was 7 years ago, I was pregnant with PDQ, had just been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, Gman was working and it was the first Christmas I was away from my family. These people are truly the family we got to pick. The famed Mr. Don has the kids play the chimes (of the metal pipes played with nails variety) and sometimes the tune might even be recognizable! One of the men plays Santa, he tells us a story or two and then gives out the gifts we've picked for each other after drawing names out of a hat. I got two of my favorite people and spent much of the last two days putting together their gifts and was so relieved when they seemed to be happy recipients.

I feel truly blessed this Christmas to be with my family--by birth and by choice. What a great reminder of the true meaning of Christmas, the light of the world. Tomorrow the girls and I head off to spend time with my family in the Buckeye state while Gman and The Pouter (although I must say he's not been pouty in awhile) stay here and O.D. on Wii games. I'll let you know how the trip soloing with the girls goes--I haven't done it in a long and I'm not sure I've done it all with the two of them. I know I haven't been involved in the driving on any of the trips, I just don't like to do it and Gman obliges me (like always, he'd tell you).

So, to you and yours, Merry Christmas and good night.