At what hour is Christmas over? I have no idea. It’s over for me. Kind of that deflated feeling, not quite as strong as getting out of bed in the morning and realizing the world has ended, civilization is gone and you’re the last one left. (It’s a fetish of mine, someday I’d like to test it out).

My nephew slept for about two hours last night, maybe. There were a bunch of adults yapping downstairs, a few drinks, a lot of really dumb stories exchanged and remembered. Isin’t it weird to be the adults? I still think about that. Kind of "wow, how did I get here?" My brother and sisters (4 of us) outnumbered the dates and inlaws so most of the stories were ours. I’ve been the inlaw before though, sort of stuck in the middle of someone else’s stories and traditions. Actually, it was nice not to be the odd one out for a short time.

I think we were a bit loud for Zack. He says he did fall asleep for awhile then. But, he came downstairs twice to check on the progress of Santa. I had told him about the Norad website and Santa was on his mind. It’s just this year (at the age of 10) that he is beginning to consider that Santa might not be real, he isn’t sure though, so he kept checking the web for the radar progress. Last time he asked me if Santa was real (when he was seven) I told him I believed in Christmas spirit and Santa was part of that. So he was good to go for awhile. This year his friends at school must be wearing off on him a bit more. Ten is old enough to shrug off Santa, but I hope he keeps something of it, the merry feeling and the faith.

In the morning the little girl, Roxanne, woke everyone up, not too early. I remember being up at 4:00 when we were kids, they had a late start getting up at 7:00, kids today!

Everyone is tired today, even Zack admitted he’s tired. I drove home in the afternoon and was beginning to fall asleep at the wheel along the way. No coffee stops open though I did find a gas station that didn’t require plastic only. I might have managed on fumes but I hate driving and worrying about the gas tank, there are enough other things to worry about with the car. Today it did pretty good, the weather was very wet, foggy and mild. A colder day would have been tougher. Last winter my brakes kept freezing. There’s nothing like driving a long and realizing that odd light on the dash is talking about your brakes and the fact that you might not have any. lol Brakes are such a nice feature on a car, I’ll be sure to request them on any future car I buy.

So, now I’m here. Christmas is done and it feels kind of deflated. But, tomorrow is Boxing Day. I’m thinking like Scarlet O’Hara, though I’m not going anywhere near a store till next week. 🙂 I had my chocolate fix on Christmas Eve and again this morning. I also had my bacon and eggs fix too. Why does bacon smell so divine while cooking but never that great to actually eat?

It’s a bit silly but I’m a bit disappointed with my family about Christmas, it’s the same each year for uncountable years. But, I brought down something for almost everyone. I skipped my brother as I made the apron for his girlfriend (on top of what I already had for her). Anyway, out of the six people there, only Graham’s girlfriend gave me anything for Christmas. It’s kind of petty and I shouldn’t care but I do, a little. It’s not the reason why I give out presents myself.

If that were the case I’d long ago have stopped. They haven’t done a gift exchange since we were kids and even then they were not really interested in giving, more in getting. Still, I keep giving out presents cause it’s who I am and I enjoy having something special for everyone. It matters enough to me to keep doing it even though I feel kind of left out when I get nothing in return. I think they just don’t care. Only Sherry really seemed to enjoy the apron and coffee set I gave her. My sisters said thanks and put their gift aside, out of the way. Anyway, that’s why I never go out and rob the bank to pay for Christmas, there isn’t any point. I give gifts for my enjoyment, I don’t worry about meeting expectations of dollars spent or getting the perfect gift. I do it for me and likely I will keep doing it just the same, always till I’m dried up and gone. 🙂