Christmas...in January?

Wow. Do I occasionally get Baby Brain still, or what? Here I assumed I'd have Mommy Brain, but I've been surprisingly on top of things. (You would NOT agree if you saw the mountain of books I have to reshelve at school, of course.) But it took my reading a blog or two about what folks got for Christmas for me to say, "Oh, duh! I totally took pictures Christmas morning." And why did I take pictures? Was it because it was my little man's first experience with the big man in red? Was it just so awesome of a morning? Not really. We were beat from our Christmas Eve festivities (almost didn't even "let Santa visit" we were so exhausted from an over-tired crying baby) and had to open half of Hadley's presents on the 26th. But, we DID have a pretty durn tootin' good time as a 3-human, 3-kitty family.

Of course, the 3 kitties weren't all awake at the same time, which made their present-opening kind of moot. Sheesh, I don't even think we did their stocking 'til a week later (not that they loved it any less). 'Cuz, y'know, you don't want to open their stocking when they're not ALL available to enjoy the outpouring of crazy jingly-and-crackly cat toys. And, of course, they're cats, and the saying regarding their wrangling is totally true. Unless you open a bag of treats. Which I did.

ANYhoo, the humans in the house did quite well -- thanks, Santa, whom I assume is taking a bit of vacation time in Aruba right about now. One never knows how much Santa "can" bring from year to year, so it's nice when the gifts are a) thoughtful and/or b) useful. While we get a lot (compared to others I know), we do way less than some other folks we know, and it's budgeted in advance...and who knows if we'll do this much next year. (Heck, our "limit" goes down from year to year, so odds are we won't do as much.) Either way, if it's something I NEED and it's not a pile of crap I have to find a use or space for, I'm a happy duck.

Here are a few stacks of stuff I was super psyched to receive. (This isn't bragging; just fun sharing.) Oh, and being a librarian, I felt I should organize them appropriately by groups...

So, here's the stack of "entertainment" goodness...plus a Norman Rockwell calendar that I was over-the-top excited to get. (Side note: My gift from Hadley *finally* came later, after some mistakes on the Amazon seller's side of things -- a box set of some Shirley Temple movies for us to watch together - when he's a tad older! Wheeee!! Oh, and Hadley got Daddy a tie, scarf and wallet.):

Here's my kitchen commando pile (look at the gorgeousness on that cutting board...and a French rolling pin?! He's a keeper! Oh, and I was dying for a "real" masher rather than a plastic liquifier thingamabobber.):

Oh, and of course there were a couple of "wearable" items, which I usually get for Dave, but he doesn't attempt for me. Let's just say I'm totally wearing the T-shirt right now. (Liz Lemon's my jam.) And the locket (with pictures of the baby!!!) made me cry!!!

Not to mention some admittedly non-organic candy. Naughty Santa. Gotta love him!

...and some "beauty stuff"! Hooray, my old straightener/curler was going to burn the joint down. Whew!

Then there was breakfast. We tend to go kinda nuts as far as the amount of food and caloric intake of Christmas breakfasts (not that we count calories any other day). I'm sure, one day, I'll try my mom's strategy -- make a french toast casseroley-type thing that can be made a day in advance and "soak in" overnight, then just throw it in the oven to bake off while we unwrap gifts.

But, for now, there's just something about bacon. GOOD bacon. Farmers' market, knew-the-pig's-name bacon. It's somewhat of a tradition for us, and I'm pretty sure my husband looks forward to it all year long. Sure, we eat it at other times (when we decide to pick some up, and if it's reasonably priced), but it's a must for Christmas, along with fresh, grass-fed eggs of some sort. In this case, it was accompanied by sweet potato hash browns, sesame bagels and juice 'n tea. Yum!!

It gave us enough energy to make it through the rest of the family fun for the day, and then some! We had to continue our own festivities on the 26th -- once the monkey seemed to be done, I didn't feel we needed to force it, so we continued unwrapping his stuff. My favorite gift that Santa brought him? Probably the handful of Elephant (Gerald) and Piggie books (by Mo Willems) for his collection...PLUS Gerald and Piggie stuffed animals! Totally love props for book-readin' (can you say "role play re-telling"?!), especially buddies like these. Daddy has come up with the BEST voices for them...although it took some research to find out that Piggie's supposed to be a girl. Hmm. Well, I guess his voice can pass as a female oinker. Maybe.

Hope you all had a fabulous holiday and got to spend lots of time with loved ones -- and that all your gifts were thoughtful and exactly what you wanted...or maybe even something you've ALWAYS wanted, which is always fun. Seriously, I got a ton, as did Dave. Do you guys do more than this? Way less? Or, are we normal and this is a completely allowable amount of splurging? I need validation, people!!