A Break From Tradition

After Nano's, I came home from Nano's house exhausted and depressed. Things didn't go the way Nano had originally wanted and planned, so I ran around that day and night trying to make it right. I came home to find the plans for Christmas morning were not going to be the way they always had been. I was downright depressed. Our Christmas has always been wonderful, though we have never spent a lot. I love filling the kids' stockings (all the kids and grandkids!) and I work ALL year long, picking up this and that...yes, my stocking drawer is already filling for next year. Anyway, as I saw it, no one for stockings. No one for monkeybread. And it's not that no one cared, it's just that they had other plans.

 So, I just sat and played a game on facebook. Then, one by one, kids returned for bed. It was after midnight. I had already readied what I could ready. I was heading to bed. We sat and talked, and Nate asked if he could give Dad a gift. 

Nate camped out in a dark Home Depot parking lot the day after Thanksgiving to get him this wonderful Ryobi drill and hammer drill with recharger. He purchased it with his plumber money. 

Kayty shared her gifts with Dad.

Back Scratcher...freeing Mom of the resposibility.

Flashlights (Dee's Christmas wish this year: scissors, tape, and flashlights)

Kayty shared her gift with me.

I have always wanted a sock monkey of my own. She got me one that sings and dances. 

Dad gave me the gift he had worked on (totally unnoticed by me).

LOVE the wrapping towel. 

This is a rolling pin Dee made me from the limb of an olive tree that fell down at my grandmother's house. Now, he planned this long ago. I don't even remember the limb, and my grandmother, we called her Tutu, passed away years ago. It is awesome and has caps on the end that adjust for different dough thicknesses. I can hardly wait to use it! I had sugar cookie dough, and still do, in the fridge. It was one of those "not gonna happen this year" items that seemed to be what Christmas ended up to be. 

Though Christmas morning was going to be different, it started out quite fine.