So, so bad

Yes, I have this thing called a blog and it's been sitting here, patiently waiting for me to update it. At least I've been watching the news!! (Well, only half-watching the news as I'm more apt to read stuff online than to watch the local news "black man minute".)

Friday evening and Saturday morning/early afternoon I could have been found wrapping presents for customers in Barnes & Noble to raise money for Pet Harbor. We succeeded in raising over $700, too!

Saturday afternoon I was hanging out with Peanut, watching him race around the house in the anticipatory state only xmas eve can bring on a 6-year old. We had a family dinner that evening. Nothing fancy, just Peanut's favorite of American chop suey; he absolutely loves it. (It's ground meat - we use turkey - and spaghettio's on top of mashed potatoes. It sounds and looks gross but tastes wonderfully good. My mom grew up on it and so has me and my sister and now we're passing it on to our kids.)

After we eat dinner, we have the tradition where the kids get to open their xmas pj's then one gift (a toy) as their one present. Peanut opened his, which was the Lego's Pirate game then succinctly whined about his pj's being "boring" and he wanted something else to open.

That wholly pissed me off.

So I grabbed Peanut and told him to get his butt upstairs if he was going to be that ungrateful. This of course upset him. Oh well. I then told Peanut that whenever he opens a gift that someone else was nice enough to get him, whether he likes it or not, he is to say thanks and move on.

I reminded him of the many families all over the world who wouldn't have any presents under their trees (if they even had trees) because their families didn't have a lot of money or live with their nanas and papa's. I also said that if I heard that sort of response out of him again, I'd take every single present under our tree and give them to kids who would be appreciative. 'Cause I really would. Greedy stingy kids don't need what their single moms worked hard to acquire so their kids could have something they actually wanted under the tree Christmas morning.

Needless to say, after that, Peanut wasn't so ungrateful. We tried to play the Pirate game but it looked like it would take a while, the kids* were losing their focus and so finally, we let them watch movies in their beds. It worked out much better that way and around 9:30 the kids were finally asleep. Ms. Claus was very happy indeed as this meant she wouldn't be up 'til early morning getting things out and finishing the wrapping.

Sunday we got to sleep 'til around 7am when, awaking to the sounds of my excited niece, Peanut says to me: "Good morning mom."

I replied, "Good morning Peanut," while waiting for him to remember what day it was. I didn't have to wait long because then he stiffened slightly and said, "What a minute! It's Christmas Day!"

I laughed and started to get out of bed as excited children cannot be contained on this morning. He raced halfway down the stairs, all the while I'm telling him to wait for me (I had to visit the bathroom first).

Then, when his eyes took hold of the castle awaiting him under the tree he exclaimed, "This is just what I wanted!!" We both headed to the bathroom where, knowing my son, I told him to pee, too. Then I got my sweater and we went downstairs.

Gone are the days when he'd open his first present and want to play with that toy, forgetting he had at least 10 others there, wrapped neatly with Santa's writing on them. Now he opens, ohs and ahs, puts it down near me and moves on to the next one.

After all the presents were opened, my parents went into the kitchen to begin making the breakfast we have every xmas and New Year's Day. It generally consists of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon and toast/biscuits. We have this big breakfast so that it holds us over until we eat "the feast"** of the usual turkey dinners.***

We ate, then the kids played some more, and I fell asleep on the couch because I slept fitfully to begin with and Peanut woke me up throughout the night with various sleepy questions.

Then, at 3:30, it was time to eat. It was very very good as always.

After dinner, Peanut and I played Shrek 2 until it was time to go. At 6pm we had to leave in order to meet his dad for the switch off at 7pm. Peanut is with his dad all week and of course I'm kinda nervous about it. He got Peanut "killing toys" for xmas. Yay.

Saturday I head to Virginia Beach to spend New Year's out partying with my friend L. who needs some cheering up and I need to at least pretend I have a fucking life.

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*When I say kids, I'm including my niece so don't be alarmed; I haven't been hiding a kid from the world. **"the feast" was coined by Peanut after reading Stone Soup so much when he was younger. ***New Year's Day we have what is called a New England Broiled Dinner. Its cabbage, potatoes, carrots and ham all cooked in one pot for most of the day. Needless to say I do not look forward to these days and usually eat something different. However, it's tradition.