Putting an End to This Season

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Anyone else in a Christmas coma?

Good, it's not just me.

We spent our Christmas day like most other Christmases that came before it - in the style of my family - driving around town like maniacs trying to see as many people as possible. After getting 3 hours of sleep the night before, I woke up and got our presents all gathered together, added the finishing touches on my homemade gifts for friends and family. Matt and I had already finished giving presents to one another on December 23rd, so we could skip over Christmas at our house and just get to everyone else.

We did however get nice and decked out in our new Steelers gear, one of my gifts to Matt.

You can't tell cause it's backwards
but Matt is wearing a Steelers hat too

I told everyone that asked, that we were wearing Steelers gear to celebrate Santa's gift to us, which was a great Steelers season and a terrible Cowboys season, LOL! My sister asked me how my Steelers shirt was considered a gift for Matt, he replied, "She wasn't wearing pants when she put it on for me." Heh.

Thanks to amazing sponsors, friends, gift cards and ultimately luck, Matt and I were able to have a great Christmas together. The loot was awesome this year. I got him several handmade items, an awesome blender, a swiss knife, cologne, and some puzzle gear cause the man loves to assemble things. He got me a year premium account to Picnik, a robe, massaging things for my back and feet, and new dinnerware - the man, he knows me. We both got a few movies too. But best of all, we got to spend a lot of time together despite him working everyday (including Christmas Eve), and me going crazy trying to get things together for everyone else.

Our first stop on Christmas was to visit my sister and nephew. Trey is getting so big and the older he gets the more he looks like Kristine. It's crazy. I got to hold him for a while, but children seem to respond to my lack of maternal instinct by thrashing in my arms violently and then spitting up. Matt has a much easier time with kids. Maybe he should get pregnant.

After leaving my sisters, we headed up to Matt's brothers house where the parents had also gathered together for breakfast. My sister in law Megan made the most amazing pumpkin waffles, which was heaven especially since we hadn't eaten anything yet. We sat down and exchanged presents, which is always amusing. My mother in law always fills our stockings similarly. Megan and I usually get at least 50% of the same things, and Andy and Matt have the same. So it's fun to see who gets to dig through theirs first. I got kitchen gadgets galore. Matt got a shower radio, a flashlight and a trivia calendar.

The best part was when it came to the bigger gifts. I knew that Matt's parents were giving him a recliner, because our lazy boy was busted to hell, and every man needs a recliner. It's a rule. Matt hadn't a clue.

We walked into the house, and our three year old niece Hannah looks up and with a big bright smile yells, "You got a chair!" Everyone who knew tried to hush her in case Matt didn't hear it the first time. But she continued. "I said you got a chair for Christmas!" Too. Freaking. Funny.

The kids opened their gifts, and we lucked out this year by getting Noah not one, but two styrofoam airplanes, and he was pretty much set for the day after that. Mistakenly, we bought a puzzle for Hannah, forgetting to notice that instead of it being an easy 30 piece set made for a 3 year old, I picked up the 100 piece set. So she played with her dollhouse, while Andy put Tinkerbell and friends together on the kitchen table.

I think that Megan and I lucked out the best this year. She got a sewing machine, and my mother in law found me a used Kitchen Aide mixer. Which is something I want and need. She's had one for years and every time we go over, I always say that when she dies, I get her kitchen aide mixer. Last May when we had some money, she tried convincing me for an hour to buy one. We stood inside Costco, pacing back and forth while I continued to convince myself that it just wasn't worth it. I don't have the ability to spend money on myself. At all. So it was good that she did it for me. Now I can stop obsessively entering contests on Pioneer Woman.

After taking off, we drove to the house of one of Matt's friends from growing up. We've known Joe for well over ten years, and when his huge family gets together for Christmas, we are invited. Joe's family is Mexican, so in addition to turkey and the usual dinner sides, they have homemade queso and tamales. Matt could have gotten coal in his stockings, so long as he got to have tamales. They're that good. Every Christmas after taking the first bite, Matt leans over and says, "You need to learn how to make these!" This year, Joe's sister jokingly said, "You don't make him fresh tamales? What kind of wife are you?!" I replied, "An Irish one."

On our way home, we stopped by the house of some new friends from Church, Jackie and Will who are newly married and spending their first Christmas together. We stood around talking about videogames, Star Wars and unloaded our g33k on one another for a while.

By the time we finally got home, it took a whole five minutes before I put on A Christmas Story and collapsed on the couch. After Matt's parents dropped the recliner (and a slider chair for me) off, we sat around, letting the end of Christmas really sink in and passing out.

Try to wake me! I triple-dog-dare ya.

Update: Matt just informed me that the puzzle was actually 200 pieces. I think I'm expecting way too much from my three year old niece.