Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!

It's over! Now onto the relaxation part of my holiday. *passes around leftover appetizers*

We got home around 2pm yesterday after a whirlwind 48 hours of eating, visiting, opening presents, and poker playing. It was a really nice Christmas but I was wiped out when I got home. Had a nap in my lazyboy, ate leftover pizza, and watched the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie that I got for Chistmas. Dave had to work today so it was an early night. Even though it was a nice Christmas, there were a few "bumps" just to remind us how lucky we all were to be there and healthy.

On the 23rd, my cousin had her baby boy, two months early. He weighs just over two pounds but is doing well. She's all by herself in Kingston (southern Ontario) because that was the only hospital able to take her when her water broke a few weeks ago. She's almost 40 and single and decided she wanted to have a child. Her Mom, my Mom's sister, doesn't drive so she wasn't able to be there with her. None of her siblings could be there either so she had to go through this by herself. We were all pretty worried about her but she's a very strong person and has pulled through with flying colors. Our Grandmother was born in the early 1900s and only weighed 2 lbs so hopefully this little baby will have as long and healthy a life as she did.

When we arrived at Mom's on Christmas Eve we heard that my Aunt had fallen down the stairs and broken her leg. My Uncle has agoraphobia and doesn't leave home so he had to send her to hospital by ambulance with their daughter. She was supposed to have surgery on Christmas Eve but ended up having her leg put in a temporary cast until they found a slot in the OR and a doctor. She broke her ankle and her leg so she'll be laid up for a while.

Then on Christmas Day in the middle of our Hold 'Em game, my Mom called for my Dad from the downstairs rec room. She sounded a little concerned so he went running. The downstairs bathroom had backed up and was flooding the basement. Woohoo! I send Dave down to help Dad out because as a maintenance millwright he's good at this kind of stuff. They had to bail out the pump to find out why it wasn't working. Crisis averted. It only flooded in the furnace room and didn't wet the carpet. Regardless, we took a vote and decided that my BIL should carve the turkey because we knew where my Dad's hands had been. *giggle*

Mom delegated the jobs for getting the dinner on the table and I was given the job of making the gravy because she thinks I make the best gravy. Nothing like having pressure to have lump free gravy. The whole meal was delicious and we all sat at the table, kids included, without any mishaps. It was the first year that we've been able to do that because normally my brother's kids have a meltdown around supper time. My SIL was telling us how Billy has so much anxiety on Christmas Eve that he can't sleep. Back when I was a kid we called it excitement, not anxiety. *rolls eyes*

This was a year for gift gaffs. I bought my sister a purple sweater, black cords and a white shirt. When I walked in the house on Christmas Eve, there she was wearing the purple sweater I'd bought her. Then my parents bought her and BIL an electric frypan and apparently they'd gone out and bought one just before Christmas. Darn people that buy things for themselves that they put on their lists. *grin*

I bought my Dad a bunch of Westerns on DVD for his birthday (which is today). As he opened his Christmas gifts it seemed that every one of them included a Western DVD. He was joking about how he had enough movies to open his own movie rental store. I giggled because I knew that the next day when he opened his birthday present he was going to double the number. Hard to believe but he ended up with 46 movies in total and not a single repeat. Who knew that John Wayne made so many movies? *snort*

My son's girlfriend drew my name in the gift exchange. This is her first Christmas with us and she bought me two sweaters. Nice present, yes. Only problem was that the sweaters were from a plus sized store and were huge on me. A size 10 I'm not, but I'm not into plus sizes either. Yet, anyway. Way to impress the future MIL! *grin* I was telling my Mom about it yesterday and then felt bad because when I got home I noticed that the shirts my Mom bought me were a plus size too! I'm really thinking that they're trying to tell me something. *snicker* The shirt Mom bought me is too big too but now I'm not sure if I should exchange it even though the seam under the arm on one of them is coming apart. I just thanked them both for the gifts and didn't let on about the sizes. Maybe next year I should specify a size.

It's so nice to be home and have a few days to relax before New Year's at the cottage. I got a call from my friend this morning. She was telling me that her sister got very emotional when she opened the present I gave her. This is the dialysis friend. I made her a blanket thanks to inspiration from my internet friends. Apparently she really loved it but didn't realize I had made it. I was telling her sister this morning that I'd made it and she said that when the sister hears that I made it, it would be even more special than it already was. Out of all the gifts I gave this year, this was the one that made me feel the best.