Christmas Aftermath

This was the scene in my in-laws living room after Christmas. Every year there is a mountain of torn Christmas wrapping paper strewn all over the floor, which takes 4-5 trash bags to clean up.

As usual, I was completely spoiled by my husband. I am writing this entry on my brand spanking new IBM Thinkpad, and the above picture was taken with my brand spanking new Canon PowerShot. I have new perfume to wear, new sweaters, a new winter white wool coat, and so many other presents I am blessed with that I haven't even had the chance to sort through and put away.

I am a very lucky woman. But I have found more joy in the giving than the getting. I have been climbing the walls for weeks at the present I got for Todd--a dive mask by Aeris that has the dive computer wirelessly displayed in the corner of the mask. Now Todd won't have to check his console or his wrist to know how much air he has left, what his Nitrogen absorption is, what his dive time and depth are. They are all right there in the corner of the mask. (Though I have a feeling I am going to try this mask and instantly fall in love with it, and I'll own one soon as well.)

I have felt this way about many of the presents I have given this year. I bought my sister in law and mother in law clothing, and watched in anticipation as they opened each one. We bought my father in law a Ryobi One+ tool kit (if you don't one one yet, go and get some of these tools, they are GREAT) and climbed the walls until all the gifts were opened.

Christmas with a toddler is also such an excellent adventure. My own nieces and nephews have grown out of that stage, but our nephew on Todd's side is 2 this year. He's just starting to understand the concept of what it is to open presents. He opened a bin of toy dinosaurs that Todd and I had gotten for him and immediately took them all out and lined them up in front of the fridge in my in-laws kitchen. There they were, all in a row, staring up expectantly at the fridge as if they were waiting for something to come out of it.