I Still Believe

It was like Christmas morning Bizarro World around here -- with the grownups up early, anxiously waiting for the kids to get out of bed so we could open presents! In the end, we waited until 10 a.m. and then lured them out of bed with the smell of bacon. Works every time!

Even though Casey and Carter pretty much knew everything they were getting, Christmas morning is still fun. You never know when there is going to be a surprise! This year, I was floored.

Remember how I told you Carter has been begging for a ping-pong table and Daddy Claus was saying, "No way. No how. No room"? Well, Mrs. Claus ordered a portable, table-top ping-pong set that could be set up on one of our folding tables downstairs. Not ideal, but at least it was something. Imagine my surprise when I went down in the basement to feed the cat this morning and I saw box on the floor for a real, life-size ping-pong table!

Wow, Mr. Claus definitely pulled one over on ol' Mrs. Claus! Certainly made a believer out of me!

In the end, we had Carter open all his presents, including the portable ping-pong set, then suggested he go downstairs to set up the folding table for it. He was just as surprised as me at what he found -- and pretty darn thrilled! Of course, there was not just "some assembly required," but "all assembly required." So that took up the rest of the morning. It didn't come with paddles, so we'll have to get those tomorrow when stores are open again. In the meantime, the boys used the ones from the portable set -- which now has a new home with Casey. Apparently college kids like to play ping-pong and drink root beer.

Jim and I didn't exchange presents since our gift to each other is our new bathroom. That might be for Valentine's, too. We just hope we have it all done by then. We have some more gunk to get off the walls before the painting is done, but we all took today completely off. Just watched TV -- the guys watching John Wayne and me watching some Christmas flicks -- and mellowed. Tomorrow we'll get back to "work" on our vacation.

By then, the smell of bacon might be gone for good. But our memories will still linger, reminding us we are never too old to believe!