Have I mentioned that I'm not exactly a big fan of Christmas? Hmmm ... thought so.
The Wife "complicated" issues this year by insisting that she didn't want anything for Xmas ... not as in "oh, I don't have any particular thing that I want" but as in "I will consider anything given to me to be simply more clutter that I will seethingly resent". Of course, this was not playing well with The Girls, who insisted that we go out shopping for mama's gifties today. I have so far managed to limit my purchases for The Wife to a couple of little "gag gifts", hoping that if this is all a feint, the nice piece of jewelry I gave her a couple of days ago (for our anniversary) will cut me some slack.
Tonight we finished trimming the tree (to the extent that we're doing it this year ... we didn't have the "cat problems" that we did last year, but we opted to not put on any of the "fragile" ornaments this year until we're sure the kitty has decided that the tree is not just a scratchy cat condo), I got the boxes back into the storage closet, and then we started unloading boxes that had come in from my Father-in-law, my Sister-in-law, various Nephews, and my Brother's family. For being a "lean" Xmas from our end, there is certainly a pile of "loot" under the tree.
The Wife had come up with a "theme" dinner tonight which involved each of us making our own pizzas, each in a holiday shape ... Daughter #2 started out with a tree-shaped pizza, which had pepperoni for "ornaments", then Daughter #1 did a "wreath" with a lot of shredded cheese standing in for pine needles, I did a snowman, with alfredo sauce, which was delish, and The Wife just did a standard pizza because she was "over it" at that point.
I still have to "play Santa" tonight (including whipping up a "letter from Santa" which explains the big secret trip that Santa is bringing), which only happens in a very narrow slice of time, as Daughter #1 is quite capable of lying in wait till 2 or 3 in the morning, and Daughter #2 is quite capable of deciding that 5am is "morning" and want to get into the presents! Ho, ho, ho.
Oh, and I see that my BEARS had a pretty good day today without even playing, given that both the Giants and Panthers lost ... this means that if we beat the "ancient enemy" Packers tomorrow, we not only would win the NFC North division, but also get a first-round bye. Of course, as of right now the BEARS have not secured anything, if they lose the next two games (both on the road, against the Packers and the Vikings) and the Vikings win their next two, the BEARS could very well still miss the playoffs ... so I'm holding my breath, not counting any un-hatched chickens, and really really hoping for the "good BEARS" to show up tomorrow!