Ho Ho Ho, It's Christmas

Well, this Christmas was a little tough without having my mother around and the spirit and joy that she has always brought to my holiday season. But luckily, when you have little kids - they aren't going to let you mope around and be sad because "IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!" Our morning unofficially started at 6:30 am. This year Santa started the tradition of leaving a gift wrapped book at the end of the kids beds which bought us an additional half hour of sleep. We made it downstairs around 7:15 to find milk and cookies gone and lots of presents left behind.

The kids had a good time opening up all their loot, although to be honest with ya there could have been one present under the tree - Kirby's Super Star Ultra for DS - and they would have been just as happy. But Elias was also thrilled to get some Godzilla stuff and they were both ecstatic over plush characters from the Angry Birds game.

Myself, I scored a few DVD's including Disneynature's Oceans. In the CD department I got the multi-CD set Walt Disney and the 1964 World's Fair, which features tons of audio from the four attractions that Disney designed for the New York World's Fair. I was also happy that my wife gave me the Tangled soundtrack, as last year she assigned giving duties of the Princess and the Frog soundtrack to another family member and it was a little embarrassing opening that up sitting next to my 6 year old niece who had just got some other Disney Princess stuff.

I really had a fun time shopping for my wife this year. She was elated to receive a bracelet from the fine folks at Tiffany & Co. As a big jewelry fan, she's always dreamed of a piece from Tiffany's. She also loved her Zumba scarf which I ordered from the Zumba website, and then realized that Zumba and scarfs have nothing to do with each other.

Joey snagged a bunch of stuff for her upcoming college days. In case you haven't heard, he's heading to a branch of University of Pittsburgh next week to begin his college career. He'll be about 3 hours away, which will be hard for his mom - and she'll in turn make it hard for me.

I think I learned a valuable lesson about Christmas this year. It's more than gifts, it's more than Christmas movies and TV specials...it's about friends and family and giving and I think I'm going to paint myself a merrier Christmas next year by giving more to those around me who are so important.