winning

Christmas was wonderful this year.  My mom brought my three nieces down to celebrate, and while I did have a bit of angst that I would melt down from the pressure of trying to make things perfect, God had my back.
For starters, He gave me a message at Mass out of the mouth of our pastor, "Jesus was born into an imperfect world to save us.  He comes again this Christmas to an imperfect world."  Oh he said it more eloquently than that and acknowledged that there are so many people running themselves ragged trying to make everything perfect that they miss the whole point.  (me.)  So, hearing that the day before company showed up was permission to scale back.
Besides my sanity, our bank account could not withstand all the plans and activities I had planned to make this perfect holiday for my special visitors.  We did splurge on beef tenderloin for Christmas Day dinner.  That was a tasty treat.  We justified it by saying that it was cheaper than taking everybody out.

So, in case you were wondering how Santa did on #5's list:
Bunny slippers:  the elves don't make bunny slippers in her size, but Santa did bring some really nice slippers that worked.  They are soft and squishy and they look like ballerina flats.  Way fancier than the stuff they wear to WalMart.
Big Hello Kitty doll:  Santa knew she already had a fairly large HK doll, so he got her a ginormous Hello Kitty coloring pad... and twistable color pencils.  Nice!  He must have known she loves to color.
Big Pack of Gum x 2: ayep!  Gone already.
Toy Shark and a whale and a baby whale (bc she wants to take them into the bath):  Santa brought a whole set of plastic sharks, each one different... Mako shark, great white, etc.  They must have eaten the whale family, because there were no whales.
High Heels with "see through":  The big red-nosed elf must have thought himself very clever to have gotten just what she asked for, especially given the size of her feet (I'm not calling her Anastasia or Drusilla, just that Cinderella has some long pedes).  However, it seems as though when he got here to set out each child's gifts, he discovered that the pair of "Hiheals with see throo" those lame brain elves packed was really just two right footed shoes.  What the heck?!?!  Maybe this means that she will be a good dancer one day?  Nobody can say she has two left feet.
Thankfully, he left her a note that said he would see to it that his elves corrected the problem and would ship her the correct pair.  Which she has now received, whew!

No 4, who earlier this year told King and I that he no longer believed, decided that he does actually believe, because he knows his parents wouldn't get him Sesame Street bubble bath. Bam!

Ok, peace out, I've gotta go draw a bath for a certain 8 year old.