Christmas day was everything hard I imagined it would be but it also had a lot more joy than I imagined. It's kind of like a "it was the best of times; it was the worst of times" kind of thing.

I was totally spoiled in an unexpected way and in a way I haven't been spoiled since maybe I was a little girl. I asked for nothing and I got so many great things that I love! He spent too much but I'm very thankful for a Christmas spent with toys for th first time in a long time. He got me a new camera, mp3 player that holds pictures and videos, a digital picture frame, gloves and a headband for when I have to be outside in the snow, and a real surprise gift that he gave to my sister and my parents as well. He had 3 almost identical sets made up of t-shirt, coffee mug and picture frame of the poem he wrote when Molly died along with our favorite picture of her sleeping all peacefully in her bed. He had my sister and both my parents in tears with that one. He is the sweetest man.

In my 12 Christmases as a mom, this was the one I got up the earliest! 6 a.m.! I guess the kids first woke up at 5 but I heard them around 6 and got up. I really didn't sleep much anyway. G and I have pretty much been a great pair this holiday: me with the worst head cold ever and him with a pinched nerve or something in his back!

My parents always go all out for the kids at Christmas and in that way, this year was no different. Only it was different, because they had 4 grandkids to spoil...and they did :) I'm very thankful for the way my parents have embraced G and his kids. My parents repeated on multiple occasions that it was their best Christmas since me and my sister were little. For them it was double the kids, double the pleasure of Christmas! Christmas is for kids (and about Christ) :)

By 10 a.m. all the kids were gone. My parents, Rhonda and Flan had left from watching the kids opening gifts. And George went to visit with his parents. We had all went on Christmas Eve and I stayed home to cook dinner. I was also looking forward to just a wee bit of alone time to decompress, process and play with me new toys G got me. My mom came back first, at around 12, and we played Guitar Hero for a long time. It was her first time and she loved it. (I'm rapidly becoming quite good!) :) If you've never played and get a chance to, I'd highly recommend it. My Dad trickled in a little while later and played some Sudoku while dinner cooked. My sister and Flan came with his sister and another friend of ours who had dinner with us at about 2:00.

By 5'ish the house was again mostly empty, just G and I. We were both pretty much exhausted but we still stayed up playing Guitar Heroe and watching new movies until about 11!

That's how we spent our first Christmas together as a couple.

Thank you to all who stopped into my blog and commented on my sad Christmas eve blog. There was a lot of great wisdom shared by many who've walked in similar shoes to the ones I wore this Christmas 2008.

Gee