Do they know it's Christmastime at all?

What a silly question to ask. Of course they do. Hobbes' inability to go to bed for the last two weeks was evidence enough. Throw on top of that three Christmas parties, the Christmas decorations, and the Christmas music we've been playing at home, and I'm thinking everyone in our household was well aware that Christmas was coming.



We did not travel at all this year. It was a 'quiet' Christmas at home. Christmas Eve we wrote letters to Santa, left out cookies and lemonade (there were concerns the cats would knock over the milk before Santa had a chance to drink it), and hung the stockings by the front door with care. The kids were sent to bed with admonishments that they were not to leave their room before 7am. (Stop snickering.) Ma (in her kerchief) and I (in my cap) settled our brains for a viewing of Twilight (which was better than I expected, although a tad self-indulgent)(aimed at teens?).

The clatter arose at 6:30am, when Hobbes arrived upstairs declaring that he had been awake since 3am, and that to wait anymore was "torture". Ma tried the "wait until your brother wakes up" trick, but, alas, Calvin was awake, too. So, like dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly when met with an obstacle mount to the sky, Sweetie got up and made coffee. All adjourned to the living room for the opening of stockings. Santa was generous with the candy this year, and the kids had a good sugar buzz going as Sweetie make a french toast dish. Cleverly she served the boys the ones soaked in Grand Marnier (don't worry, most of the alcohol cooked off). She claims it was a mistake, but I think she was trying to keep the volume down around 11.

Like many families (apparently) we had made plans to Skype my folks and sister on the East Coast. I fired up the laptop, but they were not online yet. So we began opening presents. Santa had a big surprise for the Things this year. They got a Wii, something (surprisingly) neither had asked for. What a reaction. (Video to be posted shortly.)



We finally got the call from the East Coast. Initially there were connection problems (something to do with the other 15 million people using Skype, perhaps), but we finally got a stable connection and had a nice 90 minute chat and got to watch each other open presents. Things got a little intense for the cats. Kevin had to sit in a bag for a while. Then he curled up amongst the presents (and got a wrench put on him). Happy just tried to stay out of the way.



The kids got a few games for the Wii and lots of Legos, of course. Hobbes got a sleeping bag and a hiking stick. Calvin got a remote control car and several games. All in all, a noisy happy Christmas.

Christmas dinner was a very nice prime rib with mashed potatoes and green beans almondine. It was very delicious. The next night, as we were eating a delicious shepherd's pie that Calvin was not enjoying, we quizzed him on how different meals rated on a scale from 1 to 10. The shepherd's pie got a 4; Christmas dinner got an 8. What got 10s? Hot dogs, pizza, and Kraft mac & "cheese". Our little gourmet.

Now the hullabaloo is past. Okay, now Christmas is past. Hullabaloo still lurks. There has been much haggling over Wii time since. Unreasonably, we parents take the stance that running around outside is good for them, while the kids are on the side of Wii Forever.

Happy New Year all! And to all a good night!