Every year, for as long as I can remember, Eric and I have come home from church on Christmas Eve, put the kids to bed, and settled in either the living room or the family room to finish the wrapping. This year was no different. Well, actually, it was. It was different this year because Eric was rather cranky about it. We do it every year. He should be prepared. But, for some reason, this year he just wasn't happy about it. His attitude was not in the least bit festive or joyous.
It was compounded by the fact that we had the "We really should cut back this year" conversation back around Thanksgiving and as the presents kept coming out of the closet -- I swear they must have been reproducing in there! -- it became apparent that I had not done a very good job. At one point I actually dreaded getting up from my not-so-comfortable spot on the floor to get "another load." I could just sense that this was going to be the "load" that resulted in the "I thought we were cutting back this year!?" comment. And, sure enough, it was. (Interesting the way you can sense these things). I did try the "Well I got a lot of things on sale" angle. I also said "It really isn't that much." But, at the end of it all, my only argument is that "It just isn't that easy to 'cut back'". I tried. I failed.
How do you cut back when you have a 13 year old that wants a $150 ipod? And a 4 year old who wants everything he sees on TV? And you have to fill in everyone in between. And you need to be sure everyone has the same number of gifts to open. And you don't want to spend twice as much money on one kid as you do on the others. Is it working? Have I convinced you that I did the best I could? Nope. I didn't think so. I didn't convince Eric, either. Oh, well. What's done is done. We'll pay the bills in January and then I might feel a little bit of remorse. But probably not. Christmas was GREAT! Everyone was happy. And that is my job -- and I do it well.
Anyway, we finished wrapping. I (I mean, Santa) filled the stockings. Eric put away the wrapping paper and we were in bed by 1:30 am. Not too bad. We've done worse.
Eric swears that next year we aren't doing the wrapping on Christmas Eve. But I kind of like it. So we probably will. I'll just hope this cranky thing was just a mood.
Happy New Year!
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