Just not the same.

Well, it's officially Christmas Day, so....Merry Christmas! We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family tonight at my Grandma's house. It was nice, but seems like it gets shorter and shorter every year. Everyone is all grown up with their own kids now, and everything's changed... everyone has their own traditions and other places to go now... it's just kinda sad. In a way I miss the days when all the cousins were little and just hung out and talked for hours.Just not the same now. But don't get me wrong-- I'm just thankful to still be able to get together with my whole family!

Plans for Christmas Day include church at 9am, then we're going to Russ's mom's house at 11:30 to open presents, and dinner at 1:30pm with his side of the family. We'll stay over there til 5-ish, then head back home. My parents are coming over our house around 6pm to exchange gifts, and they're bringing us dinner :-) We'll probably just wait until then to have Aly open up gifts... I hate to do it that way, but with our schedule tomorrow, that's the best way to do it. Next year that won't fly, I'm sure!! Right now, Aly's starting to understand the whole Santa thing, but still doesn't totally get it....she doesn't realize the whole "Santa comes at night and you wake up in the morning to a bunch of presents" idea. So we can still get away with opening presents later in the day. Next year we'll have to change things all around.

We should have gone to church Christmas Eve, but everything at my Grandma's house started at 4, and since my Grandma's getting older, (not to mention the fact that everyone always has other places to go) everyone always seems to leave by 7pm or so. If we went to church tonight we would only have an hour or so with everyone before they left. Now I'm kicking my butt though.

Is it bad that I don't want to go anywhere tomorrow?? I just want Christmas like we had it when I was growing up. I want to wake up on Christmas morning and do the present thing right away, then sit down to a nice yummy breakfast.... then just lay around and watch A Christmas Story while Aly and Will play with their toys that are scattered all over the living room. That's all I want to do. I just want to stay in my jammies and not have to worry about going anywhere. *sigh* In the coming years I told Russ we're just gonna have to tell everyone that if they want to see us, they have to come to our house. Once kids are in the picture everything changes,it seems... and it gets harder and harder to go fifty million places over the holidays. For me, anyway. I just don't want to step on anyone's toes by saying that we're doing something at our house. My mother-in-law and her husband always do a big dinner for each holiday at their house, and those are the few times all her kids get together. I don't want them getting the wrong idea and thinking we don't want to see them, but I don't have the room in our house to invite everyone and their brother either. I can't possibly make a dining room that barely fits a 6-person table hold 15+ people, so as much as I'd like to offer to host things, I just can't.

I'm just bummed because I can't even put presents out tonight like everyone else is busy doing. I already have to wake up at 7am so I can get myself and the kids ready, and if Aly wakes up (she doesn't usually get up til 8 or after) and sees presents she is not going to want to leave the house. It doesn't even feel like Christmas Eve since I can't do that. Thank God Aly doesn't "get" the whole Santa thing, like I said... :-(

Anyway... enough of my moody rambling. I just needed to vent...lol. (Whether anyone reads it or not.) I'd better try and get some sleep now. Hope everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, surrounded by the love of family and friends!!!