My vacation started yesterday, so I spent most of the day laying around like a slug. Then I got ready and headed to Central Arkansas for the evening's festivities. I fought with the traffic in west Little Rock to pick up a few gifts, but after circling the Barnes and Noble parking lot 14 times before finding a parking spot a mile away, I was pretty much void of holiday spirit.
Last night I went to eat at Sonny Williams Steak Room with my friends Brent and Dave. I gotta say, it was the best steak I've ever eaten, but for the $73 tab (just my part), it certainly should have been.
After dinner and a stop at Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn, I headed to Maumelle to assist with Hester Christmas. See, Santa knew that the boys were not going to be home on Christmas morning, so he was kind enough to agree to visit their house four days early.
Before putting the boys to bed, Lonnie read the Christmas passage to them. Peyton calls it the "Baby Jesus" story.
The fun thing about the Christmas story is the great questions it brings. "What's a manger?" "What does census mean?" and, my personal favorite and question that makes me so thankful that I don't have kids, "What's a virgin?" Oops!
Just after 10 p.m. all three boys went to bed in the same room (since Jen kicked Brady out of his bed to give it to me). Sweet Brady not only left Santa cookies and chocolate milk, he straightened up the living room for Santa. Then he spent at least 30 minutes begging his brothers to be quiet so that Santa wouldn't pass their house.
At nearly 11 p.m., Santa's little helpers began their preparations. Carrying presents down from the attic. Putting up a tee-pee (Jen's job). And putting up Fat Heads in the boys' rooms while they were sleeping nearby. There's nothing like watching your cousin smooth out Peyton Manning's head while balancing on a train table with only the faint closet light to guide him.
Brady woke up about 6:30 a.m. (that makes five hours' sleep, for those of you keeping count) to exclaim excitedly that Santa had been there. He was so thrilled that Santa left him a huge Razorback helmet on his bedroom wall. Peyton, on the other hand, saw the monster truck by his stuff and said, "I didn't want that. Somebody tell Santa that I don't want that."
Santa brought Lonnie a new set of golf clubs. Hopefully they'll improve his game quite a bit.
Here's the damage after all the presents were opened.
After opening presents, Jennifer made a yummy breakfast for all of us. The boys were, of course, too excited to eat. And I made a haul, including a Williams Sonoma gift card, which will be used to purchase a new saute pan. Another thing off of my Christmas list! That, and Lonnie gave me last week's Sporting News, which has Tom Brady on the cover.
Happy holidays! I'm leaving tomorrow morning to head "home" for a few days. Then it's back to C-way to start packing to move. Jen has some great pics on her site if you're interested (including some of Lonnie the dork in a wrestling mask).
