While lotsa folks are all in for the Zombie Apocalypse, we march to a different beat around here…  The beat of the Little Drummer Boy.  Precisely, we are prepping for the Christmas Apocalypse.

I am bracing myself for the onslaught of new toys, mounds of ripped paper and excess pumpkin pie.

I have a secret, though…  Don’t tell anyone, but if you live too far from family for it to be expressly known that you will be visiting for Christmas, the holidays are WAY LESS stressful.  Not that I wouldn’t love to spend Christmas Eve opening presents with my brothers, it is just that we don’t have to deal with traveling and packing and sleeping on the living room floor on an air mattress.  (My mother-in-law will be dealing with those comforts, though… She comes to visit on the 26th).

Once our shopping was out of the way, the only stressful hurdle we had was to mail everything.  And after forking over fiftty effing dollars to ship four packages, I was running low on Christmas spirit.  Nothing a little baking, wrapping and light-viewing wouldn’t cure, though.

There have been many a Christmas activity over here…  We’ve done a few crafts and some baking…

Finn and Alice made their Christmas Lists to give to Santa…  And were not willing to have a seat on the jolly man’s lap.

Now, I have a thing for bearded men, and this dude did not disappoint.  He even had a bowlful-of-jelly shaking belly that seriously had me scratching my head to whether or not it was authentic.  He could even read every word of Finn’s chicken scratched list.  I was mighty impressed.  Even though the kids wouldn’t sit on his lap (I’m chalking it up to being starstruck in the presence of a celebrity), it was our best Santa visit EVER.  Not that there have been many.

We went to Electric Safari at the zoo.  And got cozy in our Christmas jammies…

This week we made a gingerbread house…

Sans clothing…

The doorbell has rung more times this week than the entire time we’ve lived here.  Each time, the kids chant, “Another package!! Another package!”  It has been hard not to let them rip the boxes open to release the smell of new Legos and Ponies.

And on Friday, Finn had his preschool Christmas party.  It is his teacher’s first year, and she thought it would be a great idea to have a Christmas luau.  Complete with pool party.  Boy, was I THRILLED to don my bikini.  My pasty white palour was the envy of all the other moms.  Oh, yes.

So, for now, I am reveling in the calm before the storm.  We relocated the mountain of packages to ride out the last few days beneath the tree.  I’ve gotta get bathrooms cleaned and bedrooms vacuumed for the MIL’s visit.  Then it is a mad rush for baking, cooking and green bean casserole making.

And with that, I bid all of you a very happy holiday.  Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Eid Mubarak, Happy Chanukkah, God Jul (better late than never on some of those), and Have A Good Day on December 25th.