The Best Christmas Ever!

Ok, in response to Michele's comment, I will start back blogging. I apologize to both my readers.

The last of my houseguests left today. Irina, my wonderful Russian cleaning lady, was here today and the house is spotless. Today promised a return to normalcy. Ah, but I'm starting at the end, I must recap the wonderful adventures of Christmas.

First, there was pre-Christmas with Grandpa. Here he is opening his lincoln logs from Grandpa.

He loved playing with them.

Here he is opening a gift with Aunt Denise and me.

Family photo with Ryan, Zachary, me, Grandpa and Grandma Carolyn.

Christmas Eve, and I'm ready for Santa, Mommy!

Christmas morning Zachary discovered his Thomas the Train table.

Next he opened the much sought after TMX Elmo, a gift from Gran.

The talking photo frame from Uncle Kurt and Aunt Denise was a hit.

Zachary got so many great presents. Some highlights, besides the table and the TMX Elmo, were his Thomas toy box, a Thomas pillow, both from his other Grandpa and Nana Karen, and a Percy & Emily engines from Grandmommy (my mother).

I, on the other hand, won the Christmas jackpot. I got loads of belly dance stuff. It's all so cool and unique, I'm really excited about all my costuming possibilities. My group has a performance January 20 and I have so many choices for my solo costume. Ryan got me a beautiful pair of earrings that match a necklace he gave me last year. I also got several books that I wanted.

On Christmas Eve we went to a party at a neighbor's house. They had arranged for Santa and Mrs. Claus to arrive after the guests and children, and Santa had a present for each child. It was sweet. Zachary wasn't sure about Santa, but he had a great time at the party.

Christmas morning was such fun. Zachary really enjoyed his stocking and playing with the train table. At one point all the presents overwhelmed him and he got a little weepy. It was sweet. His little lip pouted out, then quivered, then he buried his head on my shoulder and started crying a little. Poor little guy. I let him watch a video while we opened the rest of our presents, he just needed a little alone time. Now I can hardly tear him away from his trains. Sometimes he goes to sleep with one or more trains with him. I cannot believe how much he loves them.

Everything was so wonderful and fun. I smartly delegated a lot of the cooking for Christmas dinner, so the entire day was truly blissful. Kurt grilled elk steaks for us (from an elk he killed himself with a bow and arrow), I tossed a few sweet potatoes in the oven, Joanne brought her famous green bean casserole, Denise made a tossed salad, and Ryan made garlic bread. We had a wonderful meal.

Today I taught my bellydance classes and on the way home discovered that Kurt and Denise are coming back tomorrow. The Denver airport is closed due to another blizzard and they cannot get home. I'll be glad to see them, but I'll have to dig deep for the discipline to get some work done while they're here. I agreed to be the choreographer for the local theatre's production of Cabaret, and it's time to get to work! I have put off many tasks because it's simply more fun to hang out with family. Ok, I think that's all the important stuff. Now I'm tired and going to go take a nice bubble bath.