My mom baked all sorts of goodies for everyone, and we had prime rib roast for dinner. One of my absolute favorites. Jack's daughter kept telling us all to hurry up and eat so she could open presents though. Ah, to be a kid again. The anticipation was killing her. It was awfully cute, but a little annoying too. Jack kept begging her to be quiet or else she wouldn't get anything. But she's a smart little cookie and she told him that wasn't true. She'd still get her presents. It was an idle threat. She was right, of course.
But she did pipe down a little when my mom gave her hot chocolate as a treat to tide her over until dinner was ready. And as Natalie and I smiled over how cute Harper was, my mom decided to ask us when we were giving her a grandchild. Wow. Talk about pressure! I laughed and reminded her that we weren't even married yet. One huge step at a time.
She just shrugged and said these days it didn't really matter if you were married or not. Why not get a move on? Natalie's only reaction was to laugh nervously and I asked my mom to please calm down and be quiet. We're not quite ready to take that step yet. Not for awhile. We'd like to be married for awhile and get used to being together before we decide to create new people to throw into the mix.
I guess my mom is just very impatient. Jack and I are very close in age, yet he gave her a grandchild a long time ago. So even if I'm still young, it feels like she's been waiting forever. But she'll just have to wait longer! Sorry Mom.
When it came time to open the presents, we all sort of let Harper run the show. After all, this was mainly for her. She was ripping things open and screaming, then tossing them aside to get the next one. It's fun to watch kids go crazy like that. But us big kids got spoiled too. Mostly we got money and clothes and things like that. But you can never go wrong with money. It was a really nice evening and given the bad news I'd received earlier, it seemed even more important to enjoy the time with my family. And to make sure my parents knew how much I loved them.
Christmas morning was fun too. Natalie and I exchanged our gifts, and I think we were both pretty satisfied with them! I know I was. I got Nat some clothes she wanted and boots. Some lotions that smell good and a gift card to Ulta so she can buy other stuff she likes. Plus, I bought her two crystal necklaces because I couldn't decide between the two of them! One is a rose quartz with a moonstone on it. And the other one is a bright purple stone called sugilite I think. And it has an opal on it too. She loved them and I loved seeing her face when she opened them up.
There was also a present from Victoria's Secret that was for both of us. Only I'm not going to wear it. I'm just going to see it. But that's the best part! I got spoiled too and Natty bought me DVD's and t-shirts and some books she knew I'd love reading. I also got some gift cards too. One to a comic book store and one for iTunes. Plus, she'd gone to the dollar store and filled my stocking up with nothing but gag gifts!
It was hilariously clever and I loved seeing all the ridiculous things she jammed into there. Like Christmas tree air fresheners for my car, bubbles, fake plastic handcuffs (!), and all kinds of goofy things. That's going to be our new tradition from now on. Gag gifts in the stockings. That's what her family always did, so I want to start doing it too.
We also had presents to give our cats. They are our children right now, so they can't be left out! They got a big stocking full of catnip toys and various things. Miss Fluff has this fetish for things with feathers on it. As soon as she saw this little toy with feathers sticking out of it, she scooped it up in her mouth, started growling at everyone, and ran off with it. She was not letting anyone touch her 'kill'.
She eventually ran under the tree and tried to eat her Christmas 'bird'. Misty was curious so she went over to see what was going on, and Miss Fluff gave her a death glare and hissed and sat there growling for at least 30 minutes. She never let this 'bird' out of her mouth! I got pictures. They don't really do the moment justice though. It was fricken hilarious. I should have gotten it on video so you could hear her growling. But here are some pictures instead!
After we ate breakfast, we headed over to Natty's father's house. Everyone had gathered there because his house is bigger than Marie's condo. But she was the one cooking and running the show. They insist on spending holidays as a family, despite the divorce and the debacle at Thanksgiving. But this time, no one brought a date or a quasi hooker to the party. That helped make the day more relaxing!
I was hoping for some chaos because that's so much fun to write about, but it was actually fairly normal for a change. Who knew that was possible? Her mom still flirted with me the whole time, but Brad didn't. Thank God. Natalie told her sister that I was scared of Brad, and apparently she had a talk with him. So he spent most of the day ignoring me entirely. I think he felt stupid, or rejected or was just pissed at me. I wasn't sure which. But I didn't care because he finally left me alone.
I did have a talk with Natty's dad before we left. He wanted to make sure his daughter had been spoiled properly at Christmas and that I was still taking good care of her. I am! I swear I am. And he said her happiness and her smile were the best present he could have gotten this year. He loves his daughter and is so thrilled that she found me. That made me feel really good and really determined to make sure I never let him down. Or let Natalie down. It's a lot of pressure, but I think I can handle it. After all, making her happy is all I ever think about.
He gave me money too. That was nice. And he ordered me to take his daughter to a nice restaurant and maybe wear a suit instead of my uniform of jeans and a Star Wars shirt. We'll see. Natty wants to use the money to buy new sheets for the bed instead of food. That's fine by me. We can eat pizza in our comfy clothes, while sitting on our new bed sheets.
All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas. Yes, there was some serious sadness hanging over my head. But it was still special. And fun. And it was probably the best Christmas I've ever had. So that's what this post is about. All of the wonderful times. Because now more than ever, that's what I want to focus on. Because you just never know when it might all end. Enjoy every second of life and appreciate the times you spend with your loved ones and your family. I know I will.
-evil_twin LA
