Christmas was ultra mellow this year, and I think that's how I like it. We were up at 6:30 am and surrounded by a sea of ripped wrapping paper, cardboard boxes, plastic and ribbons by 7:00 am. I love how months of anticipation is literally ripped to shreds in 20 minutes. By noon the kids were bored with their new goodies (because the excitement of a Wii, Xbox Live, video camera, new cell phone and $25 worth of iTunes gift cards apparently expires after 4 hours). Instead of watching "A Christmas Story" on TBS for the 9th year in a row, I bundled up the kids (as it was a blizzard-like 54 degrees and raining in Southern California) and took them to the movies (did I mention Tom was at work by this time? Yes he's a driven workaholic, but I love him all the more for his incessant ambition). We chose to go see "Marley and Me" because who doesn't love a movie about pets on Christmas? I started crying about one hour into it and continued to cry for the next hour straight. By the end I was practically heaving with sobs. As I left the theater with black mascara running down my pale cheeks, I'm sure I looked like someone who had just found out that their entire family was wiped out in a house fire. In my defense I was suffering from exhaustion (I was up till 11:30 wrapping presents, which might as well be 3 am for me), suffering from a raging case of PMS, and the general "after the present opening" holiday blues. So basically I cried every time the god damned dog panted.
Later that day, Parker emailed me a picture of the ginormous Pink sapphire and diamond cocktail ring that her mother Nancy Regan gave her (Nancy hands out diamonds every year like they were fricking candy canes). Parker also got some Tory Burch flats and a red patent leather Louis Vuitton bag from Daddy Warbucks (who unlike my husband Tom has actually heard of Tory Burch and Louis Vuitton). My mom got me an organic Henley tee shirt with Diamondesque like buttons (so its similar to Parker's ring) and Tom and I bought a shiny gas grill with all the bells and whistles (not exactly a Louis Vuitton bag, but it is red and shiny, and can a Louis Vuitton bag make kabobs? Yeah, that's what I thought). Besides it's not about the gifts anyway.
-Val
