The Terrible Catsafterme

The culmination of all of the holiday preparations, the raising of the tree and placing of the decorations, the making of the list and checking it twice, all of the gift buying and wrapping, the newsletter assembly, the baking (okay well, the purchasing of four bottles of soda and two packages of dinner rolls) - all sending the credit card debt into the stratosphere – came about on Thursday, December 24, 2009, as I entered into my 39th Christmas here on earth.

I had to work until noon on Christmas Eve, so I started out my day by visiting the Fresh Fare, where not so coincidentally my friend Jamie works. I dropped her Christmas newsletter and wished her a fond holiday. Then I headed on into the office, grabbing my Christmas Eve McDonalds breakfast along the way.

With Jamie in the accounting room

It was quiet at work from 9-noon. The stores were so busy that they typically refrain from doing much calling in on Christmas Eve. I took off like clockwork at noon and swung by my friend Heidi’s house to give her the newsletter and wish her and the girls a Merry Christmas. Since she had to work on Christmas day, Santa Claus had come this morning to the Retter house. Lola, Jayne, and Madeline were basking in the afterglow of a morning of gift shredding. Heidi’s gift to me was 20 cans of salmon and 4 packs of swiss cheese. It’s a long story.

Jayne and Madeline riding their new bikes around the house

I couldn’t stay too terribly long, especially when Briana, who had arrived the night before, began calling me to tell me that while cleaning out Ashleigh’s bathroom, she inadvertantly locked herself out of the house. It’s a long story.

Briana locked out of the house while attempting to shake out a rug

I had a couple of hours after getting home to wrap Ashleigh’s gift, pack up all of the gifts into the car, and get ready for Christmas Eve at Denise and Aaron’s house. My Mom had already headed up to their house, so Bob rode along with Briana and me. He arrived about 3:30pm and we headed out. Ashleigh had to work at Bob Evans until 4:30, so she and Stephen were driving up separately. We traveled to the sounds of the Christmas tunes on the iPod.

We arrived at Denise’s house a little after 5pm to the sounds of Christmas music and the smells of the holiday cooking. Grandpa Murphy, Mom, Dad & Vicki, and Arline were already there. Bill & Dottie would show up soon after. We chowed down on a great array of food that included ham, turkey, shrimp, buffalo chicken dip, corn, green been casserole, rolls, chips and salsa, veggies (of which I do not partake), numerous delicious cookies (it wouldn’t be Christmas without the pecan tarts) and an amazing pumpkin cream pie.

Megan’s new shoes wouldn’t stay on for long

Adam shows us his car bed, while Megan tries to climb aboard

It wouldn’t be a holiday without a photo of Mom stuffing her face…and Denise looking on with glee

With all these goodies, Briana goes for the celery

I prefer the shrimp

Denise is delighted with Briana’s mashed potatoes

Briana chows down while Megan sticks to her Christmas milk

Mealtime! Me, Aaron, Vicki, Dad, Arline, and Grandpa enjoying the holiday delights

Bob and Mom consigned to the dining room

Ashleigh and Stephen arrived as most of us were finishing, so they gathered their eats and scarfed them down, while Adam went nuts trying to determine just when we would be tearing into the gifts. When the time finally came for the unveiling of enough presents to feed China, Adam acted as delivery boy, bring the gifts to each individual.

The ridiculous amount of gifts overtaking the room

I love this shirt, so fitting for this child

Megan readies herself for her very first Christmas ever

This was the pivotal moment when Megan actually crawled onto my lap

Adam tries to convince Bob to call for the opening of the gifts

Ashleigh and Stephen hold up the gift opening starting gun by taking their own sweet time eating

Let the games begin! Adam opens the guitar I gave him

Grandpa with the traditional bow on the head

A new tradition! Megan and the bow-head

With my sausage and cheese

When he got a break from opening his own gifts, Adam assists Megan with hers

Bill looks on as Aaron records some of the Christmas Eve proceedings

Arline looks on as the gifts begin to stack up on Dad

Adam opens up the 3D puzzle from me

Ashleigh’s new iPod Touch

Adam plays a rousing rendition of discordant strums

Seconds later, her new doll would be in her mouth

Here is what I gave: To Ashleigh: The 32G iPod Touch; To Briana: Seasons 5-10 of Friends, To Denise: Season 4 of Lost and the Lucy & Desi Collection; To Aaron: Season 1 of Star Wars The Clone Wars; To Adam: a guitar, a Klik Klak, a 3-D Cars puzzle, $50; To Megan: a shopping cart walker, $50; To Mom: two Harry Potter DVDs (parts 2 and 6), Twilight DVD, $25 gift card to Kohls; To Mom & Bob: $25 gift card to Olive Garden; To Dad: Route 66 Vol. 1, a gear puller, a vacuum pressure test kit; To Dad & Vicki: $25 gift card to Red Lobster.

Here is what I got: From Ashleigh: two nice shirts; From Denise & Aaron: zip-up sweater, almanac, Monk season 7; From Mom & Bob: sausage and garlic cheese, suitcase, Twilight Zone: The Movie DVD; From Dad & Vicki: Zoom Back to the 70′s DVD, The Best of The Electric Company DVD, George Washington mini-series DVR; From Bill & Dottie: $25 gift card to Red Lobster.

It looked like a bomb had exploded in the living room after everyone had opened the gifts. It was mostly fun to watch Adam dig into the presents now that he ‘gets it’. Megan was hilarious as she crawled around amidst the rubble not having a clue as to what was going on.

Megan surmounts the rubble. She is getting this ‘smiling for the camera’ thing down pretty well

Traditional close-up self-portrait of Briana and Ashleigh

Traditional family portrait…with one extra addition

Briana reviews the framed collage that Stephen gave Ashleigh

Me and Yaht

Little B and me

Dad, Vicki, and Arline left not long after we had opened the presents. Then Ashleigh & Stephen and Briana took off to meet up with their Mom. I was exhausted after the long day, so I just laid on the couch watching TV with Grandpa, while Mom, Denise, Aaron, and Dottie played cards and Bill and Bob chatted.

Although Megan had one crying episode and Adam eventually approached meltdown stage, we were able to sneak in the last order of business for the night – the placing of the mile and cookies for Santa, who would be visiting that night. I slept on the couch that night, waking up periodically to the sounds of Grandpa coughing in the room above me.

Megan gets upset when someone closes the basement door. We counted 12 full seconds between screams.

The placing of Santa’s milk and cookies

Next up: Christmas, the day itself…

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 26th, 2009 at 6:31 am and is filed under 2000's - Late, Christmas, Family Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.