good night, and good luck.

Christmas craziness is over. I'm numbingly tired and sweetly satisfied. I don't know about your family, but my family wakes up early every Christmas morning. I'm talking 5 or 6AM. Actually, let me set you straight; I wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning and I tip-toe out to our tree in the dark and set my presents underneath the tree. Then I race upstairs to shake my sister awake, who then shakes our brother awake, who in turn wriggles on our parents' bed like a worm in water.

It's a scene. I start the scene and they finish it, and we all stumble downstairs in a frenzy because by then, we've all been sitting around in a sleep-deprived daze waiting for cameras to be found and orange juice to be drank and teeth to be brushed. Do you have odd rituals like that? This year, after I poured each glass of pulp-filled orangeness, I gradually hid my glass behind the coffee table. Nobody, and I mean nobody, drinks orange juice right after brushing their teeth.

An hour later, our living room was covered in wrapping paper and boxes and pretty bags. Legos and board games and a Nintendo Wii and a ping pong table and weird things like a ukulele (!!!) and socks, lots of socks, (all mine) littered every available corner of the room. Our Christmas tree twinkled beautifully amidst the chaos.

And then...then come the post-Christmas gift unwrapping rituals. It's a funny thing, really. See, I don't like clutter. So as soon as everyone is finished searching their stockings, I collect every last one of my gifts and unload them in my room. I don't just stop there, though. I put everything away in its place (because there is a place for everything). My sister stacks all of her gifts neatly and orderly in piles, but then leaves them there, in the living room, for days. Drives me nuts. And then my brother is the absolute worst. His stuff is everywhere. It's all over the living room, in the dining room, on the kitchen table, strewn around the dog and the lamps and we're finding gifts for days that he forgot he even unwrapped. It's madness.

So, I now bid Christmas farewell. It's almost over, and I'll miss it greatly until next year when the craziness can consume me once again. Relaxation and a new year are staring me in the eye, and this year, I welcome both with open arms.

Let the fun keep on comin'. :)