Christmas Surprises

Christmas is full of surprises but here are a few I hadn't anticipated:

13. Eight inches of snow on the 23rd. Then six more the next day. Apparently the woman I saw leaving the movie theater in flip flops hadn't noticed.

12. Night at the Museum. Not a bad movie, I wasn't sure what to expect. Owen Wilson was pretty funny--though that's no surprise. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

11. Norway is part of the Netherlands. Funny what you learn in a game of Christmas Eve Catchphrase, but when Melissa had to describe her word in a way that would enable her team to correctly guess it, she said "Norway is part of this." Melanie, connecting the dots in a way the rest of us could only marvel at, quickly shouted: "The Netherlands!" Funny thing is, that was it. One mind, two bodies. We were in awe.

10. Lillian begged for bed on Christmas Eve. I wanted to let her stay up for the rest of the party but starting at 6:30 she wanted to go to bed and I held out until 7 then gave in. I LOVE the Santa Factor.

9. Mom swiped her slice of sausage through the whipped cream then ate it. Ugh. Took everyone at the table by surprise and brought our Christmas Eve dinner conversation to a halt. You think you know someone . . . I guess it just proves my theory that if you sit at the table long enough you'll eat anything and everything.

8. The kids actually stuck by the "No waking up until 7am" rule. Sort of. They begged to be able to get up earlier but Andrew was firm. Seven a.m., period. I heard them at around 5:45am getting up to use the bathroom. The sounds of doors carefully opening and closing, feet in the hall, but no flushes. Spencer explained later that they were trying to be quiet by not flushing the toilet. Oh.

7. Moist gifts. Earlier in the week I had been watering the Christmas tree and accidentally knocked over 2 quarts of water. In two seconds not only was the tree watered but the tree skirt, rug and presents were thoroughly irrigated. Most had dried out by Christmas morning, but there's nothing like a gift that sloshes.

6. My beautiful bowl. Made especially for my cereal Spencer tells me. Mmmmm . . . Cinnamon Toast Crunch . . .

5. A broken gum ball machine. Probably shouldn't be surprised that a present broke after ten minutes, but now Spencer has a large gum ball bank that won't take any coins. Fine by him, he didn't want to have to put money in to get the gumballs out anyway, the process has been nicely expedited.

4. A new home theater system that also doesn't quite work. Well, everything works but the remote control, which is harder to figure out than a nuclear reactor. Where's Homer Simpson when I need him?

3. Batteries. Exactly 47 were needed to completely equip the toys received by my children Christmas Day--no lie. Evidently we're single-handedly guaranteeing the continued success of the Energizer Company into the next century. When will they develop a solar-powered toy?

2. My beautiful pearl earrings. My husband has good taste, isn't he sweet?

1. Hunger returning . . . eventually. I thought it impossible to ever feel hungry after all the food I'd consumed the last two days. I thought I'd never eat again.

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