White Christmas

10:32 p.m., Christmas Eve

I wish I could say that not a creature was stirring, but alas the cats are on the prowl. They know something is up and are keeping tabs on everything. Perhaps they have some kind of feline Santa radar...

Kirk is sleeping in Suzanne's room tonight--he wants to make sure that they get up at the same time, run downstairs, and open their presents together. I fear for him sometimes--I think that his vision of how things should be will not match up with reality. Which is exactly what will happen if I don't get the last of the wrapping done.

11:10 p.m., guess I dozed off for a few minutes...

Greg is busy eating the Santa cookies, but he's taking a pass on the milk. Kirk insisted on helping me decorate the sugar cookies. I frosted them and he was going to do the sprinkles. He sprinkled 3 and decided that those were for Santa and, therefore, he was done. Now that Greg has polished off his favorite cookies, he is settling in with the cat. I suspect he'll be packing it in shortly.

I'm happy because I don't have anything to put together this year. All Kirk wanted were games for his Wii and Suzanne is getting a Hannah Montana with stuff, so I dodged the bullet. I suspect we'll be getting the HT dream house later, but for tonight it is just regular wrapping.

It's been a strange week. We have had a lot of snow, which is so unusual for our area. The song here goes, "I'm dreaming of a Wet Christmas!" White Christmases just don't happen in soggy Washougal, so the 3 feet of snow in the yard looks a little strange. It is very much like Christmas used to be when I was a kid. I've been driving neighbors to the grocery store for the last few days because I was proactive and did not let the snow pile up in the driveway. Most of the neighbors didn't shovel because around here it usually melts the next day. Not me! I shoveled and shoveled and now I am not trapped in my home with my kids. Those little trips to the store are what keeps a mother sane!

Suzanne doesn't really care for the snow. It is deep enough that it's over the tops of her boots and she got some down her neck, so she is not too impressed with the cold stuff. It was hitting her in the face and she kept saying "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

11:40 p.m., still no wrapping

Greg is still awake and has turned on "A Christmas Story." We've never seen it, so at least I'll have something to entertain me while I get finished with the wrapping. Santa should be here in about 20 minutes, so I should probably get to it.

11:45 p.m., still snowing...probably need to shovel again tomorrow...