No, I did not...

...fall off the face of the earth. (Although some days, it would've been more pleasant than the alternative I got, I think.)

I hope you've all enjoyed a pleasant christmas/hanukkah/solstice/whatever you celebrate. Honestly, I really don't care which you celebrate. I just hope that you enjoyed some good times with friends and family. That's really what the season is about - celebrating the son/light/sun/whatever, but also to celebrate it with others that make you happy. (And a little time with those that make you crazy thrown in for balance as well.)

For me, the celebration was with 14 other family members. And it was nearly derailed this year by strep throat. Frodo and I got to spend 2½ hours at the urgent care clinic Friday night. Yippee. Next time, I avoid the hassle of the doctor that doesn't know what the heck he's doing (he was "surprised" the strep test was positive, even though Frodo had classic strep throat symptoms ) and take care of things myself. (Field trip to mom's work after hours! Whee!) But a couple doses of amoxicillin later, and Frodo was back to his usual self, and the festivities were back on! I cleaned. I cooked. I cleaned again. I collapsed in bed that night.

I think I'll persuade someone else to host it next year.

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For the first year ever, Frodo looked forward to the annual tradition I've done with him of going for a drive to look at christmas lights on christmas eve. That made me quite happy, since in prior years, he'd pretty much just *tolerated* it. After growing up in a family with few positive traditions, I try hard to make a few traditions that stick and will hopefully become good memories for Frodo. He's now decided we need to decorate our house like some we saw last night. He brought my digital camera along to take photos so we would have ideas for next year. I hope he is comfortable with ladders and electrical wiring next year!

After the drive, we came home, popped some popcorn, and watched "The Polar Express". After the movie, we put the Santa Key on the front doorknob, brushed teeth, and read "The Night Before Christmas", in pop-up style. After that, I had to keep myself awake to be able to take care of Santa things. (Hubby was working - protecting the county from itself as usual.)

After putting out Santa stuff, I finally crawled myself into bed. Frodo was at my bedside at 5:45 am. (Yes, FIVE-FREAKIN'-FORTY-FIVE-IT'S-STILL-DARK-A-M!) He whispers, "Mom. Santa came!"

"He did?" I whisper back.

"Yes mom. I got the Wii I asked him for!" (I'll share that story later.)

"You did?" I whisper again. "That's awesome! Now go back to sleep because it's too early to be up and playing with it."

He crawled in bed with me, only to flop around for a little over an hour. Each time he'd flop, I'd move, then hubby would pat my arm or leg.... Finally at 7:10am, Frodo whispers, "Is it late enough to get out of bed yet?" I knew any attempt at sleeping was futile by that point, so out we went to see the booty Santa had left. I decided the tradition of Santa not wrapping presents turned out to be a good one - with hubby working until 3am, then getting home and to sleep at 4-5am, it buys us some time on christmas morning when Frodo can play with the stuff he got from Santa while hubby catches a few winks.

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This Wii Frodo got - He gets to ask Santa for ONE thing each year. This year, he asked for a Nintendo Wii. Fortunately, Santa had told Frodo, "That's pretty new. I might not be able to get it for you this year." Oh, do I LOVE Santa!

I spent every day for a week going from store to store trying to find one. I'd ask everywhere, "when will your next shipment come in?" only to be constantly told, "we don't know". I got sick of finding empty Wii boxes that were put out for decoration only. (Evil! May you spend time in that special part of hell reserved for the person who invented the thick plastic packaging nearly everything comes in now and the person who invented the idea of using 75 twist ties to hold a small toy in place in it's box.) The last day I tried, I called home to hubby telling him that the procurement of a Wii was now in HIS hands. I'd had it up to ^here^.

Fast forward about 8 days, and hubby has done not a single thing towards his job of obtaining the Wii. One Saturday evening, while hubby was at work, Frodo and I headed to the mall to pick up a couple gift certificates. One was at the video game store where I was getting a gift certificate for my nephew. While purchasing the gift card, Frodo was off checking out the Wii display. I lean in towards the high school kid working the counter. "So. Will you be getting any Wiis in tomorrow?" I ask

"Maaaaayyyyybe" he quietly replies without looking up.

"I see." I reply. "What time do you open tomorrow?"

"8am."

"So, if I get here at 8am, I might have a good chance at getting one?" I ask.

He leans forward and whispers, "Get here before 8am."

I purchase the gift card, thank him, and Frodo and I stop for some ice cream.

The next morning, I'm up at 6:45am. I throw on a baseball cap and jeans, and head out the door. I decide to grab a McMuffin and coffee at the McDonald's drive-thru. Mmmm. I get to the mall and it's 7:15am. It looks fairly deserted in the parking lot. (Ahhh... Not so fond memories of the days when I worked at the mall....)

My coffee and I walk to the entrance door and find four people standing there. It turns out they are there for the same reason I am, but only because they tried a couple other local merchants first, just to find out they got there too late by 6am.... Three of the people are in one group - college students - one of their group is going to purchase one and the other two are just along for the entertainment of being there. The fourth person there is a mom who is hoping to find one for a christmas gift for her 11 year old son. I told them the story of my discussion with the video game store worker the night before, and they all hope (as do I) that nobody else has found an open door on another side of the building....

We stood there chatting for just a couple more minutes, and a mall security guard unlocks the door and lets us in. As we approach our destination, there is a small, handwritten sign posted on the gate: "We have 5 Wiis available for sale this morning. Please form a nice line." Bingo!

As we were talking there, another person joins our little group - a 14 year old boy who was trying to find one for his brother for a christmas gift. His mom joins us a couple minutes later. They will be the purchasers of #4. All of us had a very nice time chatting while we waited. I'd brought a book along with me to entertain myself as I waited, but I never needed it. What a nice bunch of people we had there! Purchaser of #5 showed up about 10 minutes later - a dad who was looking to buy one for his 9 year old daughter.

As I purchased mine, the same high school kid from the night before was working again. After I bought it, I went to the food court in the mall and bought a McDonald's gift card. I took it back to him and told him I wanted to buy him lunch because of how much he made my day and how much I appreciated what he had told me the night before.

"But I didn't say anything specific!" he said.

"Exactly" was my reply.

So a big public thanks goes out to "Jon" at EB Games. For saying nothing specific. And for saving one mom's sanity.

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I, for one, am happy to see the holidays done. I enjoy the extra opportunities to teach Frodo about giving, not only to friends and family, but to those less fortunate. It's a lesson that is discussed throught the year in our home, but the holidays gives us the extra opportunites that don't exist other times of the year, such as through the "Adopt-a-Family" at my work, "The Giving Tree", and the Salvation Army red kettles just to name a few. We are lucky people who have enough spare money that we can afford internet access. Frodo has learned we need to share the blessings we receive.

I hope your holidays find you healthy and happy and blessed.