here comes santa claus

We got home late (gasp! after TEN pm!) from the Kaiser family Christmas last night. Logan was in bed and asleep within minutes, but Kaylin was excited and overstimulated and NOT going to sleep. This was unfortunate because I could have been in bed asleep within minutes too. Instead, I dozed in the living room while Kaylin tortured me by staying awake.

When she FINALLY fell asleep, Gene and I got to work on the Santa stuff, retrieving presents from hiding places and filling stockings. Kaylin used her allowance money to buy a "beautiful" light tree from Big Lots that she's been using as a night light. A very, very bright night light. I looked in on her one last time and noticed a wrapped present under her tree. Aaahhhhhh! I completely forgot she wrapped a box of crayons for Santa to give to the elves. I snuck into her room to get it. I was trying to be very quiet, but I couldn't possibly have made more noise. Paper rustling, crashing about as I got the package unstuck from the tree stand. I somehow managed to remove the package without waking her, quickly scrawled a thank you note from Santa and fell into my lovely, warm bed.

Kaylin was up at 6:20 (I was reading the paper) so I sent her back to get Gene. I went myself and gave fair warning that he better get up. Yeah, yeah, he was getting up. Logan was up by 6:30. We brushed Kaylin's hair for pictures and called and called for Gene. He was doing his usual morning ritual of slowly dressing in his 14 winter layers and couldn't be bothered to come out to open presents until his shirt was buttoned and his shoes were tied. The kids were getting so impatient they had their first presents unwrapped before he completely entered the living room. Kaylin ripped her paper to bits and threw it wherever it landed. Logan carefully removed his paper and pitched it into the garbage bag before opening his next present.

For the first year since kids we had absolutely NOTHING Fisher-Price so unpackaging the toys was a snap! I used a scissors a couple of times to slit packing tape, but didn't need a wire cutter or screwdriver once! Woooohoooooooo! One definite benefit of being out of the toddler toy stage. The living room was a wreck, with paper, packages and toys covering the entire floor.

Gene and I got straight to work on assembly. I put together Logan's wooden parking garage, Playmobil plane and boat while Gene worked on Kaylin's Playmobil princess castle. Logan's stuff was easy, but the castle took FOREVER to assemble. Gene and I tag-teamed it and worked almost continuously from about 8:30am until 3pm. It's almost 8pm and Gene's putting together a princess carriage and I'm getting ready to assemble the castle kitchen accessory set. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm sick to death of assembling Playmobil!!!!

It was a fun, relaxing day! I stayed in my pajamas until 3:30 when the neighbor girl came over to play and I figured I'd better shower and dress before her mom came to get her. The kids played and played and had a wonderful time with their new toys. By 5 I had most everything cleaned up and was itching to leave the house. I couldn't think of anywhere I actually wanted to go, but I lost my car keys at Evergreen Square the other night (fortunately Gene and the kids were at karate 1/2 mile away so I walked over there and got Gene's spare key to my car...) so I thought I'd try the stores to see if anyone turned them in.

We ate at CiCi's Disgusting Pizza Buffet with Pizza Worse than Chuck E. Cheese. While Gene and the kids were finishing eating, I started trekking around to the different stores to ask if anyone turned in my keys. I tried Dollar Tree, Factory Card Outlet, Steve and Barry's and Kmart with no luck. I had only actually been inside Dollar Tree and Kmart the other night, but walked across the huge parking lot so had no idea where my keys could be. I went into Marshall's and asked some harried clerk who was counting out a money drawer. She dug through about five drawers and called her manager. I was just apologizing for taking her time when she looked at one more spot on the counter. Voila! My keys! I was completely shocked! Totally worth eating at CiCi's!!!! Merry Christmas to me :)

Oh, that reminds me, Gene got me a cell phone for Christmas. That moves me into the late 20th Century with everyone else. Gene liked his beautifully wrapped giant fork and spoon and hung them in the GARAGE!!! What a GREAT day!

I forgot to mention how much Kaylin LOVED the letter from Santa. She totally bought it :) And I keep forgetting to correct my Terrible Error from two weeks ago when I (gasp, gasp) called a Kitchen Aid mixer a MixMaster. Silly me. At this rate I'll NEVER be a baker!