He sees you when you're sleeping...

Merry Christmas all!

 This past year has been quite a lovely one indeed. I got married to the man of my dreams earlier in the month and was blessed to have my first Christmas with the in laws! Woo! Historically, I have dreaded Christmas at the "in laws". My ex's family is so VASTLY different than my own family that it was akin to pulling teeth to get me to go there. It was a very stressful event and often I had to be dragged kicking and screaming up the mountain, and would fine a quiet corner to hide in until I was permitted to go home.

 This year, my husband wanted me to spend time with his family so the boy and I wouldn't be alone during the holidays. I love my sister in law, her wife, and my niece (and her boyfriend) and have spent time with them in the past. The little man also enjoys time spent in the company of his aunties, cousin and her boyfriend! This particular trip we opted to spend the night there and boy oh boy are we happy that we did!

 Christmas eve was filled with warm laughter, chocolate fountains (just for the adults! Teehee), COZYNESS, cookies and milk, magic reindeer food and the boy was introduced to video games (hilarity ensued). It was absolutely wonderful! We tucked the little man in after a symphony of "I'm not tired" and "I can stay up!" The adults then ate more chocolate and proceeded to put the gifts out under the tree. Lovely. Just my style of night! After talking to my daughter on the phone until late in the night, I dragged my candy cane dust coated carcass off to the spare room to join my little muffin with dreams of sugar plum faeries dancing in my head. The sand man was particularly heavy handed with the sleeping powder because as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out. As in TKO.

Wake up, buttercup. Time to open gifts.

 The next thing I know, I hear a little voice chirping. Did that little voice just say my name? "Mom?" (Yep, that page was for me.) As I rouse myself into a semi lucid state my son's voice filters through my brain straight to my heart. If there is any way for a voice to actually SOUND like Christmas, his did. Right there in that one syllable was all the excitement and wonder of childhood. As I peeled my eyelids apart, my son's rosy cheeked, hinkey toothed grin welcomed me into Christmas morning, 2012. Knowing that the boy A) needed to go to the bathroom and B) I couldn't physically make him wait any longer without breaking some kind of United Nations law against torture, I released the lad from the bedroom. As he sped past the tree his awe struck voice floated back to me... "He CAME!" Yes he sure did! Sy came back to the bedroom (as everyone over the age 18 was sound asleep still) and recounted the tale of exactly how Santa knew where he was and how to drop off his loot at a place other than home. I lay there and listened to him detail how *he* has a special connection to Rudolph, because he left the reindeer food last year and this year, and how Santa himself said that he was "looking forward to seeing him" Christmas eve. After all, he sees you when you're sleeping.

"And he took a right at Albuquerque..."

 He didn't have to wait long after that  before we made a skype connection with my mother in law, daughter and other family from out of town, and unleashed him on a pile of gifts. He tore into those poor, unsuspecting things with sniper like precision and ferocity of a rabid ferret. Wrapping paper shrapnel was strewn everywhere. I think he may be ambidextrous because at one point it seemed as though he was destroying wrapping with one hand and playing with a toy in the other. It was a beautiful thing to see, family sharing his excitement, everyone doing basically the same as he was, laughter, love and joy permeating the whole day. It was an unforgettable Christmas.

Imma let you finish, but first, lemme tear into these bad boys.

Thanks to my Husband, I will now be able to share moments like this and many more in the future with a group of people I feel 100% comfortable with. The only kicking and screaming I did this year was out of laughter. Thank you, David, for this precious gift of family. \m/_

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.