1. Christmas shopping would be a lot more fun if there wasn’t so much shopping involved. Or, if I had like ten thousand dollars, you know, to waste. Or at all.
2. Every year I say we’re going to have a small Christmas, then every year I spend way too much money on way too many things we don’t need and it’s the picture of excess and unabashed materialism and I realize I’m a terrible person for buying so many things made of plastic and in China.
3. But I’ll be honest, it’s pretty much exactly how I want it.
4. And I’ll tell you why: my kids are still young enough that I can spend ten bucks on a gift and they think it’s freaking awesome, so I buy lots of ten dollar gifts, in anticipation of the time when they’ll be demanding $150 items and I’ll be able to afford like one gift for each of them. Or two. I LIKE showering them in crap. I LIKE IT.
5. I like the 2-hour gift-opening sessions. We do not have minimalist Christmases. I’m ashamed of myself. So ashamed I’m not going to do it again for at least a year.
6. In other news, I never want to eat again.
7. I am also currently watching my husband dance to the Wii game “Just Dance III.” There’s a lot of booty shaking occurring and I’m about to wet myself in hysterics. He’s doing this bunny hop thing and it’s freaking great.
8. I am so glad my husband is home. I’ll never complain about him again.
9. That may be untrue.
10. Anyway, I had an amazing Christmas. My brother and his wife and their 3 kids came and there were all of us at my mom’s house with noise and chaos and crying babies and love. My dad showed up on Christmas morning, my husband’s parents came as well. We were surrounded with the people that make this all bearable, and even, I’d say, enjoyable. And by “this” I mean life. The whole freaking shebang.
11. I get all sentimental this time of year.  I love my life, my people, and this (by the way, this was Christmas Eve, before Santa came):

Merry Christmas, everybody (who’s into this sort of thing). Um, a day late.