Time For Bed

Christmas has finally come to a close. The girls are watching a Scooby Doo Christmas cartoon before bed while I type this post. Boy are they spent! Mr. Sandman should be here any minute now to sprinkle sleepy time glitter-dust into their tired eyes. It has been a joyous two days.

As with every Christmas Eve, my sister-in-law hosts a spectacular family gathering in her home. If I were to guess what Mrs. Claus's home would look like, I would imagine it would look at lot like my sister-in-law's. Homemade treats are plentiful and the holiday decor is nothing short of perfection. The kids are always ecstatic about going to their cousin's house for the holiday... can you blame them?? Every room, hallway, entrance, stairwell is filled with merriment!! Me and the kids always fill up on treats and then I, along with my sister-in-law, fill up on Bailey's. HA!! It is Christmas after all.

The girls remained wide-eyed and giddy as they tore open present after present.

The children are definitely getting older as demonstrated by the fact that they spent most of Christmas Eve in the study on the Webkinz site creating elaborate rooms for their pets -- a drastic change from years past where they mostly ran amok.

While the bigger kids sat glued to the computer screen all night, Alex took the time to play with her new Polly Pockets.

Miss. Samantha is quite the young lady when she wants to be {my brother-in-law sitting off to the side there}. My mother and father-in-law are just the sweetest grandparents. They simply adore their grandchildren with unconditional love and affection.

This Christmas Eve was extra special in that my mother was able to join us.

Santa did not forget about what the girls had wished for most of all... American Girl Dolls!!!

Meet Molly {the one wearing glasses} and Rebecca. Don't they look a lot like my girls. : )

Then a few other girls arrived on the scene... Moxie Girls!! Warning, if you happen to find yourself with a Moxie doll complete with hair dye, get rid of it as quick as you can.

The hair dye stained our hands. I don't for the life of me understand why I thought this gift would be fun. The dolls are great, the colored hair goo, not so much.

I am a tired mommy tonight and hopefully the girls will give their mommy a break and let me sleep in a little tomorrow morning. I'm sure they'll be no chance of that, but one can only hope.

I was so happy to be in the company of loved ones. It makes my heart weep a little to know that tomorrow will be just another day. I mostly will miss the days leading up to Christmas -- that time of year that comes right at the end of Thanksgiving when all of a sudden Christmas is "just around the corner." For me, it's the baking, decorating, shopping, cooking, crafting and all the things that comes along before the actual celebration begins. This Christmas is now "in the can" as they say in the business.

Merry Christmas, friends! I'll try to post again before the new year... that is, if I can muster up enough energy to do so. I'm finally at the end of my rope after having gone a hundred miles per hour within the past 24-hours... I'm now running on fumes. What with my diet primarily consisting of chocolates, Bailey's and cookies it's a wonder why I haven't collapsed already. I'm ready for a good nights sleep. Wish me luck for getting to sleep in tomorrow!!