Christmas past

Christmas 2010 is almost a thing of the past -- one more family Christmas celebration next weekend and theologically speaking, the Christmas season doesn't end until the Feast of the Epiphany when the three kings visited the Baby Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

It's been a good Christmas in the 4th Frog house. The boys each had a part in the Christmas play at church on Christmas Eve and we came home to enjoy slow cooker lasagna and let the kids open two gifts, as has  become our tradition.

I'm not sure when Santa arrived, though I couldn't have missed it very easily, considering I didn't fall asleep until 4am. From about midnight to 4, Annie was up keeping me company. Boy, did 5:30am come quickly when the boys were bouncing on the bed, shouting that Santa had come.

Santa came through with a new sled for Charlie, an Air Hogs helicopter for Robbie, Wicked tickets for Annie, and a Star Wars video game for Mike. Happily, Mr. Claus remembered my love for all things Scrabble and tucked the 2011 Scrabble calendar and the new Scrabble Flash game under the tree for me. Love that Scrabble Flash -- and so do the kids. I only wish it had 7 tiles instead of 5 so it would be more true to the real game of Scrabble.

We had a nice visit with Mike's family over the past day or so, though there was a little bit of sadness in the air knowing that this was most likely our last Christmas to be spent with his mom. More than melancholy, though, there was lots of laughter and good food. The kids were well-behaved and thoroughly spoiled.

Now we're back home and planning to enjoy a few days of R&R before the real world comes knocking again next week. I need to make a to do list of things I'd like to this week, otherwise the days will tumble by and I'll be scratching my head on January 3rd wondering what happened to all those good intentions.

Thanks for putting up with my re-posts from Christmases past. Hope you will indulge me in just one more. It involves Santa, Diet Coke, and riding nearly naked in the car (no worries, still rated G). Check it out here: Dear Santa.

Hope your Christmas was terrific, too!