A very Merry Christmas

My father in law was to arrive Tuesday evening and his flight was cancelled. Then a Wednesday flight was cancelled and he finally arrived late Christmas day. My mother in law arrived first from Berlin. She always brings lots of good stuff. This time she brought me salt and pepper grinders (the really nice ones you can only find in Berlin) and some striped socks. (I have a thing for crazy and unusual socks) The children received these little book type things with pencils, pens, ink cartridges and rulers in them. They had a Berlin bear attached. Apparently the husband always had these little books when he was a child. Then she unpacked the candy!!! She brought everyone their favorites. Huge Milka bars, kinder chocolate stars with 3 different kinds of kinder chocolates, Ritter Sport for the husband and even some chocolate with liquer in it. She also brought me a wisk that they do not sell here in the United States. It is going to help create wonderful gravy.
We had already been to our Christmas Eve church service and everyone was starving. While the husband and children were at the airport I made pasta primavera with tons of fresh veggies. My m-i-l loves coming to my home because I'm her daughter in law that loves to cook and everything is always fresh. We had a wonderful dinner. We let the children dig into their stockings. They were mainly filled with all their favorite candy.
My parents arrived about 2 on Christmas day. They had made sure there was a gift from each of them for the children to open immediately. My son received two x-box 360 wireless controllers and an Eskimo Jo long sleeve t-shirt. My daughters received a wii game from my dad and they already owned it. (this was my fault as I purchased it and had no idea they owned it) They both received their annual Eskimo Jo shirt. It's just not Christmas around here without a Jo's shirt. We snacked on a spinach/veggie dip, ranch dip, and shrimp dip with crackers, tortilla chips and vegetables until the father in law arrived.
The father in law was expecting to eat leftovers and was truly surprised to arrive to a full meal and knowledge that everyone had waited for his arrival to have Christmas dinner. Everything turned out perfect. We had turkey, dressing, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, shoepeg corn casserole, broccoli and rice casserole, green beans with bacon, black eyed peas with bacon, hot rolls, pumpkin and pecan pies.
After dinner my mother pressured me into opening gifts. I wanted to wait until after our shopping spree on Friday. My sister sent each of the kids a crisp $100 bill. My mother gave the oldest daugher another $100 bill. She quickly informed us that "she was the richest kid on the block". My parents went in together and purchased my son a top of the line Diamondback trick bike. It was brought down from the attic with a big, red bow attached. His favorite color is green so naturally the bike is lime green. My youngest daughter has begged for an American Girl doll for months and one arrived that night. As a group they received wii fit and more wii remotes, guitar hero for x-box 360 with an extra guitar, and several new games.
I arranged for our parents to go in together for the husband's gift. He is the techy guy of our bunch and had asked for a Garmin navigation system with blue tooth and satellite radio. I'm left to purchase the special antenna needed for this gift. The husband was so shocked to see the gift I had convinced him he wouldn't be receiving! He was late to work on Friday because he was playing with it all in his car in the driveway.
Since we've moved over 1,000 miles from everyone we decided to give our parents digital picture frames. We loaded up my parent's frames with pictures prior to wrapping. We left the husband's parents blank since they are more than capable of loading their own photos once they are home.
Friday morning we all got up and headed out for a day of shopping. The oldest daughter found some great deals on clothing. (I promise this is what she wanted to spend her money on) She ended up with nine shirts, 4 pairs of jeans and a jacket for right at $100. We searched many stores for the scooter she wanted but could not find one in stock. Both my son and youngest daughter went to purchase custom built skate boards with their money.
Saturday we were more determined to find a scooter. First we set out to get me a new bike I'd been eyeing for a few months. My parents noticed me looking at it on Friday and took me back to purchase it on Saturday. Today I'm the proud owner of a new bicycle. I've never owned one with speeds and all that. I was always a tom boy with a dirt bike and trick bike. Thankfully the husband always had bikes like this and will be able to show me what I'm clueless about. The guy at the bike shop suggested we try Pep Boys for the scooter. Sure enough, we walked in and they had two! They even offered my father a senior citizen's discount so he bought the two year warranty. The oldest daugher was really going to be happy now. Next we headed to mall for a gift from my father to my husband. I had planned to pay for part of this gift but my father would have no part of it. The husband received 4 pairs of slacks, a new brown belt, a dress shirt and 4 new ties. The best part was he couldn't get mad at me because I hadn't paid for any of it! (husband hates receiving clothes!)
After a day of shopping I did not want to prepare dinner. We decided to order barbeque. My father and I went to pick it up. We had 2 whole, smoked chicken, 2 racks of ribs, 2lbs. pulled pork, coleslaw, beans and garlic bread. We also grabbed some fried pickles and corn nuggets. I was worried we wouldn't have enough food and now we have plenty of leftovers. We ended the night with the kids playing wii and most of the adults in the hot tub relaxing.
My in-laws caught a plane back home at 6 a.m. this morning. I wish they could have stayed longer! How many daughter in laws do you know that say that??? I love them and their visits never last long enough. My parents will be here through New Years. Today we plan to go to the second service at church and relax the rest of the day away while the kids ride skateboards and scooters.
I will not be relaxing. Everywhere I look I see trash or gifts in piles and I cannot stand it any longer. While everyone else is comfy and lounging I will be picking up my home so that the tornado look disappears. We had a wonderful Christmas and that funky guy named Santa (who has nothing to do with Christmas) was really good to us. It was a real blessing to have both of our parents here this year. I hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas too!