Megan was supposed to come over on Saturday so we could make a cookie Christmas tree and she could open the Christmas present that stays at my house -- thought it'd be mean to take it over for Christmas morning and then take it away -- but she and her mother had the stomach flu. Stacey said that if she didn't puke again (since 4am Saturday) then she could probably come on Sunday, but only for a couple of hours. She called Sunday morning to say she was going to wait until 9:30 before driving to town since her vehicle had a flat and she'd have to drive the van which isn't weather appropriate. They were going to have lunch with me and then they'd go home for Megan's afternoon nap. Stacey called from errands at 11:00 to say since it was snowing again, she'd come get her and they'd head home before lunch. I noticed that Megan seemed to have pink eye. Since the walk-in clinic didn't open until noon, Stacey was going to go home and I was going to take Megan to Quick Care and then home. Then we were going to leave the van at my house and I was going to take them to Quick Care and then home. We then settled on me just following them home so that should they get stuck, I could take them the rest of the way. Phew! So, two hours (not enough time for the cookies and since she was sick, i wouldn't want to eat them anyway) turned into five hours.

My dad and I went to breakfast on Christmas Eve and I went out to Stacey's to help her mom and Megan make a gingerbread house. I soo wanted to leave, but Stacey's husband had been clamming and insisted that I stay to try his fried clams. Fine...just hurry it up. I didn't get home until 9:00 and still had to make my bed since the sheets were in the dryer.

On Christmas morning, I left at 5:30 to get to Megan's by 6:00, when she usually wakes up. She apparently woke up at 4:40, but they didn't let her into the family room. Good, I was worried about her sleeping too long since she was sick. Only, the adults weren't ready. They had to shuffle the dogs around or God knows what. Finally, Megan came in and the slide was a hit. She opened the Santa presents in good time and then seemed to run out of steam. Hand over a present, watch the person open it, talk about the item....sheesh. When I was a kid we piled everyone's presents in front of them, yelled go, and then tore into them. Then we had a show-and-tell. I left their house at 9:00, stopped by my dad's on the way home to check out the progress on his house, left his house at 10:00, got home at 10:30. I wrapped his last present, took a quick snooze, talked to my mom at 11:00, straightened up a little and my dad came at noon.

We had snacks (spinach dip and olives), watched Love Actually, rolled our change, as is our tradition (I had $54.50 and he had $194), ate pizza, watched The Simpsons Movie he got for me, had cake and he left at 5:00. And the never-ending day continued. At 5:00, it seemed like 10:00...I kept thinking that I was getting tired and it was bed time. I looked at the clock and it was 6:10. Holy crap.

Anyway, good Christmas. I got a scarf from Stacey's parents, silicone spatulas, a tube pan, a couple of Italian charms (a pic of Megan and a fondue pot), a collage of Megan (6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, two years) from Stacey, and from my dad, a Wal-Mart gift card (I had told him I was out of face cream), a mini-filled cake pan set, a madeleine pan, and The Simpsons Movie. I had said that I wanted a water filter for my house, but he was struggling on making that happen so he asked for alternatives. I got everything I asked for, plus the movie. And $50 from my mom. What a surprise that was...I can't remember the last gift she gave me.

Stacey had called me last Friday to tell me to take all of her gifts back because all she wanted was for her dog to ovulate. I made a card for her, from her dog, telling her that she was ovulating. Apparently the dog made a liar out of me. We're now shooting for ovulation on New Year's Eve, but that's not very likely. I crossed Stacey's name off of her gift tag and put mine so her presents were to and from me. I didn't want to take them back, I just wanted them. Don't worry, I did let her have them.