An embarrassment of riches

A few days before Christmas, there was an article in the paper about how to deal with your dysfunctional family. How lucky I am, I thought, that my family isn't dysfunctional. Not that they're perfectly, you know, functional, but I genuinely like and love everyone and don't dread spending time with them, but rather look forward to it. I think I would love Christmas as much if there were no presents anywhere -- just a deli tray and my Aunt Jeanette's treats at Grandma's, brunch with Aunt Nancy and my cousins, a late evening visit with Dad, pancakes and fresh squeezed orange juice at Mom's, a nice nap, then dinner with Mom and Boompah. It would only be improved if Eugene, Oregon were next door and we could spend time with Sweetie's family, too. But as lucky as I am to have such a wonderful family, we also got stuff -- lots and lots of stuff!

Zadie pretty much tripled her toy count, adding a musical table (for which I have to go buy batteries), a singing, dancing Care Bear, a snowman, two different Christmassy stuffed dogs, a Where the Wild Things Are monster, a peapod baby, a mooing cow, and a ball popper. She also got many new books, too many to list, and a huge number of cute outfits.

We were spoiled, too. I know I'm silly, but I forgot that I had put several items on my wish list, so every time I got one, I'd go "Oh, how did you know?!" I'm almost ashamed to admit how spoiled I got, but I have to tell you that my Sweetie got me Paul Frank pajamas and slippers, plus a cool titanium chain for my favorite necklace (which Zadie recently broke).

Now I'm enjoying a little soy nog and a truffle we got for a gift as the baby puts herself to sleep. It's been such a nice holiday, and I'm glad to have more time off from school. Tomorrow we have another Dr. Who-a-thon. We have to only invite a couple people at a time to each event, because our living room is so small! I hope tomorrow is an okay day to have a fire in the fireplace (our region has prohibited burning at times). And soon, my friend Suzanne will be here for a visit! Yay! Okay, now I'm rambling. Bye!