The Holiday Begins

Well, this surely hasn't been a good month for blogging.  My intentions were good but life had other plans as usual.

Tomorrow Punky and I are heading home for the start of our holiday festivities.  I spent this evening loading the dining room table with all the bags, boxes, bottles, and such that need to somehow, someway, fit in the trunk of my car for the trip.  My goal is to get it all down there this week so there is less to worry about when we make the trip again next Friday for Christmas Eve.

I'm happy to say that, after two weekends in a row of shopping and wrapping, I am finally done.  I swear, next year I'm starting early.  Okay, so it'll never happen, but it wouldn't be the holidays without me swearing it at least once. 

Punky is definitely into the whole present thing this year.  She's already received a few from friends and has practiced her unwrapping technique.  Her eyes light up in anticipation of the treasure she will find hidden inside...and they stay lit forever while she painstakingly tears pieces of paper the size of dimes from the package.  She has refused all help thus far and I've been trying to calculate exactly how long it will take her to open all her gifts on Christmas morning.  Actually, Christmas Eve morning...

Yeah, Santa will be gracing with his presence / presents (ha ha) one day earlier than the rest of the world again.  What can I say?  We're special.  It's actually the only time we can squeeze him in again this year. 

We'll have Christmas Eve dinner with his family, and then head down state to mine that evening so we can be there for Christmas morning.  Punky has no concept of dates, and I really want her to have the "Santa came to my house!" experience...actually in her own house.  So Christmas Eve morning it is.  Besides, I am absolutely overflowing with excitement already; I don't think I could wait one day longer!

This weekend my mom's extended family is having their annual Christmas get-together and "Pollyanna" gift exchange.  It used to be held every year at my grandmother's house on Christmas Eve, but the tradition lapsed with her death.  Four years ago the family decided to make it an annual party, hosted by someone different each year.

I can't attend any year when the person hosting it has pets, so that ruled out two of the three previous years.  Two years ago my parents hosted it, and I would've gone because they held it at my dad's hunting club, but I was thirty-eight weeks pregnant and refused to be hours away from my doctor.

This year my sister is hosting...it's at the hunting club so no pets and I'm excited to finally participate once again.  I have the best memories from the years at my grandmother's house.  It was always so much fun!  And it's the thing I miss most about Christmas since she's gone.

Also penciled in for tomorrow is Punky's first haircut...and a highlight for me since someone at the store last week once again asked us if Punky is our grand-daughter.  Damn people.  I don't care when they ask him...he's forty-seven and looks even older.  But I don't want to be included in that assumption.  I know, mathematically it's possible, but it's still insulting.  So, another highlight it is.  By the time she starts kindergarten, I better switch to full color.  I'll be forty then and facing a sea of twenty-something moms.  I don't even want to think about it.