Thanksgiving down Christmas to go

Well, the feast is over and now the hustle begins. Why does it seem like Thanksgiving is gone in the blink of an eye? Maybe because mere hours after you finish eating the Christmas hustle begins. For the past few years my SIL and two of my cousins have been hitting the Black Friday sales, sadly usually not even looking for anything. I guess we just enjoy punishing ourselves or maybe it is that the crowded malls and frigid temperatures are easier to handle than our crabby kids after a day without enough sleep! I'm guessing that is it since my two cousins, neither of which have kids, chickened out this year. My SIL and I still had a good time. We met up with one of her friends and shopped for a few hours. We got some good deals at Old Navy and Bath and Body Works. Penny's also had some great buys if you needed coats, which all four munchkins did, but my aunt grabbed those up for Christmas gifts. You know the saying the early bird gets the worm? Same is true for Christmas gifts. My list is seriously shrinking for the kids and I haven't gotten a thing yet. Everyone else is grabbing up things on my list. Guess I better start hitting the ads again. Course it doesn't help when the kids can't come up with even one thing they want!! Morgan asked me if Santa will still get her gifts if she can't think of anything she wants. I told her that I was sure she would get something and that she could just write him a letter telling him what types of things she likes to play with and he could handle the rest. She told me she felt much better now that she didn't have to worry about Christmas! Wonder if Santa will handle all my Christmas worries. The kids are planning Jesus' birthday party already too. Every Christmas Eve we have a party "in the living room" (that is the most important part) and that is Jesus' birthday. Then we go outside and sprinkle magic reindeer dust, head in to check the computer to track Santa's progress, surefire way to get them in bed early (hopefully the kids will stop believing in Santa before they realize Paris France is not next to Ohio!!). Then Mike and I settle in with a glass of wine until we are sure the kids are sleeping. Mike refuses to help arrange the gifts because he can't quite grasp my "method" or madness as he calls it. Anyway, I think I am more excited than the kids. I love seeing the excitement and joy this time of year brings and we remind our kids daily as we hustle getting everything ready what this whole season is about. Austin told me the other day in his four-year-old way that he knows Jesus is very important because he has a great big party but gives us the gifts. I love this time of year the most and not becuase of the gifts or parties, but because we spend so much time together as a family, as a couple, as an extended family. This is the busiest time of the year because of all this, but also the happiest. This coming year I hope to be as busy with family as I am at Christmas instead of putting these things off because we are too busy.