"Santa Was Here, But He Left!"

My wife and I had Christmas Eve all planned out right down to the last minute. In the afternoon we would visit my in-laws, food consumption and gift exchanging -- check. On the way home she and I would get coffee and ride around our neighborhood to look at everyone's holiday illumination -- check. Upon arriving at our residence children would receive baths, track Santa's progress on the computer, get a call from Nannie, and off to bed -- check. Things were rolling right along -- like a well oiled machine -- except my wife and I hadn't planned on feeding ourselves, but that's what coffee's for, right? Especially, after my in-laws had just given us the ultimate coffee maker -- a Cuisinart Grind & Brew. If you're a coffee drinker there's no better machine.

Okay, kids in bed, coffee done -- now the waiting game begins! As I've mentioned before we have a CCTV system for the boys' rooms. Great for just this purpose. It allows us to make sure everyone's asleep so we can give Santa a heads up. Finally, around midnight, my wife had to resort to threatening the Helper -- you know -- the typical, "Santa's not coming if you don't go to sleep..." The threat had been changed from the previous, "...until you go to sleep," version. He's almost four and it was just too much for him -- he was ready to explode.

Then at 1 p.m. she pulled out all the stops, "Santa was just here, right up on the roof, and he left. He said he'd be back in a half hour and if you're not asleep he's going back to the North Pole with your presents." The girl's good, ten minutes later -- sound asleep. Santa arrived and all was good. Except that we figured we had only about three hours of sleep ahead. I woke up around 6:30 a.m. a made a pot of delicious java. I drank my wonderful coffee while I waited for the mayhem to begin. Well, long story short, the Helper did not rise until 10 a.m. -- sure he was up until one. Christmas began a little later than usual yesterday. After some company in the afternoon my wife finally made, her and I, something to eat -- pancakes, bacon, and muffins. Scheduled for brunch, actually eaten around 7 p.m.

So much for scheduling to the minute. Next year, no schedules, kids go to bed at 3 p.m. and I'm ordering pizza. Now that's what I call a tradition!

Funny Story of the Day:
Some of the Helper's gifts were packaged in small gift bags with tissue paper. When he was opening his first one, Mommy asked, "What did Santa bring you, honey?"
Without missing a beat the child responded, "Garbage."
See -- should've gone to sleep when you were supposed to.