Well, despite my best efforts there will have to be some doubling up of gratitude before the end of the year. I always forget how crazy the last couple of days are right before Christmas. I mean, if I stop and think about it of course there will be craziness in the closing days, but I am always in some kind of denial about it. The last 3 days flew by, leaving me worried that I wouldn't have time to finish up all of little bits and pieces that I wanted to in order to be ready. I crawled in to bed at 3:15 this morning after finishing all of the wrapping, writing and pretty-making. Of course the kids were up at 5:45. By 6:00 they had blown through their stockings and were anxious to start getting down to business. The man and I stumbled downstairs. I made us some coffee and then we took our places on the couch to watch the excitement unfold. It's so rewarding to watch the delight and amazement on their faces. I realize that we don't have many more Christmases with this type of magic. This was our first year where the boy knew with certainty that there was no magical midnight visit...and it is only a matter of time with the girl. She is already asking the types of questions that the boy would never dare to ask, for fear that the answers that he would receive would spoil the mystery. She asked me this morning "Mama, did YOU put this hedgehog in my stocking?" The boy never would have asked. It was our own Christmas version of 'don't ask, don't tell'. All the same, it was such a pleasure to watch them both open their presents this morning, both with a different understanding of how those things got there. It was also doubly satisfying to see the enjoyment on their faces when they opened the things we got them that weren't on their Santa lists. I really spent a lot of time thinking about those few things that were specific to each of them, but that they hadn't asked for, so it was lovely to see that they were pleased with them. In contrast to the speed of the last few days, today is moving along at a snail's pace. We have very, very few lazy days around these parts...but today has become one of them. ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.....