Not crying at Christmas

I'm not gonna lie or sugar coat it-Christmas is hard for me. Mom would always go shopping with me on Black Friday and as much as I love my husband-he's not the shopper my mom was. There were times, we couldn't get together to make Christmas cookies, but I'd put the phone on speaker and we'd jabber away making them anyway. I thought I'd roped Lauren into being my helper for Christmas cookies, but school and work keep her from helping as much as we'd like-gotta give it to her the girl is an oreo ball queen. Seriously, we did a whole batch in less than 15 minutes. Most of that time was letting them get cool in the freezer. Then, Christmas cards come and I remember Mom racing Stacia to get them in the mail first. But these days, I remember and laugh because there were so many really good times to remember.
Now I can stress out as to where I put everything-I think I found it all. Stayed within budget(a Christmas miracle). Once again, I didn't order enough Christmas cards and lost some addresses-so consider yourself lucky if you got one.It was too humid to make pralines-and come to find out two of my three biological kids hate pecans anyway. Grinch punch was cute, but strong enough to give me a hangover(come to think of it so did the egg nog the next night).
Things go wrong-they always do, but I got to see all the kids and we shared some laughter. I'm still struggling to take a picture of my fish-he's a beautiful black dragon named Harley (thanks Lauren) so you won't see a picture of him here today. Instead:

This is Miss Priss. Once all the presents were unwrapped, I was told to close my eyes and the kids led me outside. She's a Christmas present to me from them.
Seriously. Aren't parents supposed to surprise the kids?
I didn't cry, even though I thought about it. I just bit my lip real hard and reminded myself that if I started, I probably wouldn't be able to stop. Not sad tears, but Happy ones. There's not a thing in the world I need-but feeling the love that's the most precious gift of all and when you keep getting it-in massive amounts.
Well... it's enough to bring tears to your eyes.

It just happens

Every time our grandson and the dogs get together, I'm amazed. There's no snapping, no hitting, and no inappropriate  behavior by anyone. The dogs seem to know he's a little boy and they are so excited to see him-they run in circles wagging the tails and jump up and down until he pets them. Then, he has to find toys to throw for them. They kiss each other and watch each other sleep. I love watching the dogs stand near him just watching him sleep. They silently sit there wagging their tails until he moves. Some times, there are long periods of time that they don't get to see each other but nothing changes.

That Santa Thing

One of the feeds that comes up on my face book was discussing the merits of Santa Claus. A lot of people were really against lying to their children. I had no such problem.
I'll never forget when Beth was either eight or nine I was worried that her friends would make fun of her for believing or worse yet-they'd break the news and be cruel about it so I went on to explain that Santa was the spirit of Christmas and that Christmas magic was real. The man in the red suit just wasn't one that you could physically touch. She had questions and was amazed that I had time for stockings in the middle of the night. She said that her dad and I must really love our kids to go through so much trouble-she got the idea. I figured as long as that truth came out, I might as well come clean so I told her about the Easter Bunny and when I got to the Tooth Fairy, she covered her ears and proclaimed her whole childhood had been a lie.
We laugh about it now-and I've asked her what she'll do when she has children of her own-and she'll lie to them too.
There's just something about believing that all things can go as planned, that impossible tasks can be completed, and that sometimes people work year round expecting nothing in return.