christmas eve of sorts

the boy and i got to philly on the later side of christmas eve- the kids were asleep and my parents were almost ready for bed (having both come down with a cold). so we helped ourselves to the leftover turducken, ham, green bean casserole, mac & cheese, and carrots. i was severely disappointed in herbert's turducken. not very tasty and a big letdown compared to the one i had had at a holiday party last year. . . in any case, i made up for it with my mom's ham which was as delicious as usual.

while the boy and i ate, my brother and sister kept us company. because my niece was sure to recongize her mom's handwriting, the boy was asked to write "santa's note" to the kids thanking them for the christmas cookies and chocolate milk. eventually, we went on to gift exchanges and watching video of the kids' christmas performances and a piano recital. full belly and a couple beers later, we fell asleep on the sofa watching p.s. i love you. i got maybe halfway through before i conked out- feeling that movies like that give women unrealistic expecations of love and romance.

the next morning, we were woken up by my niece looking for signs of santa. and sure enough, mostly eaten cookies on the plate and santa's note sealed the deal for my excited niece. although she called into question the familiar wrapping paper that her gifts were left with.

T: isn't that the wrapping paper that was at grandma's house?

sis: um i don't think so. shooting me a glaring look as i had convinced her that unwrapping the gifts would be unnecessary.

T: hey, this is a karaoke machine. grandma got me a karaoke machine. grandma, didn't you get me a karaoke machine?

grandma: i think santa must have gotten things mixed up in the delivery.

T: looking questioningly at my mom oh ok.

fortunately, she got excited about the other gifts and moved quickly on. the rest of the morning was filled with present unwrapping for the kids, eating pancakes and homemade crossiantwiches, and doing crafts. lovely time. just a bit too abbreviated.