Well my blogger strike has finally ended! Didn't know I was on strike eh? Well neither did I till I realized about twenty days had gone by and I haven't wrote a single entry!! So I think that my Christmas stress just maxed out and I couldn't take another single thing on my plate. But it's all over. (with a huge sigh here) The baking is done, the shopping is done, the family get together's are done and my stress is slipping away like that bottle of Merlot! Hah!

Now don't get me wrong. I love Christmas and the magic of the entire season. But coming from a family of six and I am the youngest, the Holiday get together is just becoming too much. Not to mention I have eight nieces and nephews I have to shop for and as they get older it just keeps getting harder and harder to buy for them. This was the first year I didn't buy for my sisters tier husbands. I just had to put my foot down and say thats it I'm not doing this anymore. We are all grown ups why do we need to buy gifts for each other and our spouses? Anyway.. Here is the breakdown of Christmas Eve and Day in our family.

Christmas Eve
9:00 am Till about 11:30 Breakfast at a local diner with the in-laws and then to their house to exchange gifts.
4:00 pm Christmas Mass
5:30 pm Christmas Eve Dinner at my Eldest Sisters house
7:30 PM Christmas Eve Party at my husbands aunts house
10:30 PM Home to finish wrapping and putting the new toys together

Christmas Day
8:00 AM  Woke up and exchanged gifts with hubby after some coffee.
8:30 AM got Nicholas up and had him open his gifts.
10:00 AM Arrive at my second eldest sisters house to start the "Christmas Caravan"
11:00 AM Arrive at the second stop on the Caravan - My Brothers house
12:00 PM Arrive at my house - Third stop on the Christmas Caravan
1:00 Pm got Nicky in his crib for a nap.
3:00Pm kicked my bro out because we had to get ready for next outing.
4:00 PM arrived at my Husbands brothers house for dinner. TURKEY NO HAM!!!!
7:00 PM Got home and get Nicky to bed
8:30 PM settled in to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3.

I can finally breath!! Till next year.

My favorite Christmas memory this year is Nicholas saying OPEN really loud as he slowly tears a single piece of paper from a gift and then hands it to me and says DID IT! It's too cute.
The other thing that is so great is that we got him a Tickle me cookie monster. In the store he seemed to like it through the box and would smile at it. But once we got him out and on the floor he became scared to death of the stupid thing. He will try to climb up me as if a wild dog is chasing him.. Needless to say I don't want to traumatize the poor kid so Cookie monster is on the shelve for now

I got alot more but tomorrow is another day. Can't wait to hear about everyone's holidays!