Christmas

I've been wanting to write and keep sitting down to update and then stall out when it comes to starting a paragraph. There is so much going on and so much excitement that I feel a little drunk on Christmas spirit (not eggnog, really) and it's hard to follow through with an update.
We are spending the afternoon cleaning and packing and getting geared up to celebrate an early Christmas tonight. We will let the kids open some presents and have a quiet family meal before we head down South on Monday for a big family Christmas with my side of the family. We are also awaiting a powerful winter storm that may throw all of our plans out the window. I'm just breathing deeply and trying not to stress. I'm fairly powerless over a blizzard so my freaking out is not going to make any difference, I'll just enjoy watching the snow fall and not borrow worry from Monday. I'm just praying to make it to NC by Thursday.
My favorite niece that is 3 was here last week and we had such a great time with her. I love her so much, being around her constantly makes me laugh. My sister and I took the 3 oldest kids to see The Nutcracker last weekend and in the middle of a dance N. stage whispered to my sister "Boys should NOT wear white tights!" They were surprisingly well behaved through the 2+ hour performance, the only disruption was during a performance by a scantily clad dancer when Ace yelled at me "I need the binoculars, NOW!"
We also saw Santa at the fire station and, although she still did not want to sit on his lap, Julia did not insist on leaving the minute Santa arrived. Maybe he's growing on her. She still doesn't get what all the fuss over his is about and if you ask her what she wants him to bring her she answers with a firm "NOTHING!" She would just like him to take his sleigh and keep right on going, thank you very much.
I love Christmas and I hope I'm keeping it simple enough that the kids are having time to just soak it all up. We try to have some quiet time every night when we sit by our little tree (we just put up a little one since Grandma has the big one) and read stories and listen to music. I kept the shopping to a minimum and we only got 3 gifts for each child, one big one and two smaller ones (because as my pastor said, "If 3 is good enough for Jesus...") The kids are spending way more time talking about our trip and seeing family than what Santa is bringing so I know that the big gift this year is the time we'll have with our favorite people. And if the blizzard hits and we are stranded in Cape Cod, maybe Santa will stop by and offer us a ride on his sleigh. Maybe then he would win Julia's heart!