it's all over but the cleaning

And thank goodness. Nah, actually, once I got all the holiday "prerequisites" out of the way, I was able to calm down and enjoy the days. We do have a lot of celebrations...especially with Billy's family, but for the most part it's fun times!

The most exciting thing is...Santa brought us a kitty. And the plan went off without a hitch. Santa went to pick up the kitty on Monday afternoon. She stayed in the camper until the girls went to bed on Monday night, Christmas Eve. Then Santa put all the presents out, ate the milk and cookies, dispersed the reindeer food, and brought the kitty in the house. Now, the original plan called for this precious little cat to stay in Mom and Dad's room until the early morning hours. But...she would not shut up. I guess the new environment coupled with not getting any attention while we were TRYING to sleep was too much and the meowing commenced. As you can imagine, this did not exactly sit well with Billy. HA! And the tirade started...something about him not even wanting that stupid cat to begin with and something else about how I would not stop until he agreed...something else about how he couldn't believe he agreed. Yada. Yada. Anyway. The cat ended up being put out of our room around 1 am.

Needless to say, around 2 am, we hear the pitter patter of little feet coming to tell us of Santa's delivery. If I wasn't so damn tired, I might have gotten to enjoy that exchange a little more, lol. However, I will always remember the year that Chloe's faith in Santa was renewed...and it needed to be, I think. Apparently, there are lots of second graders who no longer believe in Santa. How sad is that? Even sadder that they feel the need to squash the other kids believe. Anyway, I'm fairly sure that if Santa would not have followed through with this kitty delivery, it might have been the end of it for her. I know it's coming sooner or later, but I wasn't ready to let it go just yet. It's a magical time, people. Let's keep it that way! ;)

*edited to add pictures...LYNN!