Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah & Happy Holidays

What a BEAUTIFUL day! The sun is shining, fresh snow on the ground, and Guitar Hero playing in the background!

We got home around midnight last night...we drove about an hour SW out to the in-laws for Christmas Eve (who made a vegetarian entree, so I won't go off on a tangent, I promise) and the kids along with my husband and I were SPOILED! Money, gift cards, iPod docking stations, Nintendo DS games, portable CD players, Hannah Montana everything, Chicago Bears EVERYTHING (the dh and ds have whole new Bears wardrobes). The ds's family is amazing and have so made me a part of their family. I am honored to carry their last name. They truly are amazing.

I had most of the presents wrapped, but dh and I always save some. We have a ritual, every Christmas Eve we put the kids to bed and then we wrap the last of the presents while we watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and hang out. This is our 8th year together...(amazing because 18 doesnt seem like it was that long ago, lol). I think we got to sleep a little after 2 and 7 am came BRIGHT AND EARLY! The kids were in awe coming down the stairs. I loved watching their little faces light up (even though ds knows there is no santa, he didnt ruin it for his sisters). They went through all the presents except for a group that was separate marked "family." I took one of the presents aside and let ds and dd open it together, and seconds later, screaming ensued. They never expected that they would get a Wii so their shock made every bit of penny pinching worth it. I feel so blessed to be in a position where we can provide for the kids, give them presents like that, and that the dh and I are both working (espeically that I can work from home). I know that so many families have had a rough year and don't get me wrong, we had our setbacks as well, documented here, so I wish everyone a heartfelt HAPPY HOLIDAY to you and yours!!

Family Xmas

I am getting ready to go to the dreaded family xmas party...which is probably why I am blogging instead of getting dressed and the dh is rolling his eyes at me. Seriously, every year I hate going more and more. I know I shouldnt be putting my family on blast like this, but most of my aunts all gossip about each other and all of each others kids (my cousins), the cousins are always fighting with someone else, there is just always some sort of drama. The dh's family is so normal it's scary. They are all nice and loving and fun, none of the back biting like in my family. Seems like every year my huge Italian fam just gets worse and worse (with the exception of a few people I am close with). If you read My So-Called Blog you would already know how I got bitch slapped on Myspace by one of my cousins last week. So to try to ease the holiday trauma one of my BFs came over last night with a bottle of Raspberry Smirnoff and a Singstar game. If you dont know what Singstar is, you dont know what youre missing! It is a karoke game for PS2 and PS3 and you sing along with the song while the video is playing, it is seriously sick. So the BF and I are celebrating the beginning of winter break (she's a teacher...trust me, when you thought your 3rd teacher wasn't cool, she probably was). By midnight we're singing "I Wanna Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd at the top of our lungs and taking shots. I am still amazed we didn't wake anyone up. This continued til 430am when we finally lost our voices and passed out. Let me just say for as much fun as it was, I am paying for it today in the form of a killer headache that vicodin probably couldnt even alleviate. Merry Christmas!