very merry.

The Ouisers had a wonderful Christmas. S was insanely thrilled about everything.

Christmas Eve was a low key day of making and decorating Christmas cookies. Then we went to Mellie's for my mom-family Christmas. We came home and read Twas the Night Before Christmas. We put S to bed, and we watched Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed get their awesome on in It's a Wonderful Life.

Christmas morning, we banned the family from joining us for the opening of presents, and it was a very wise (though bold) move. It meant that M and I were able to really watch S open gifts. We got to see her little face light up. We got full-on thank you hugs for all of our gifts to her. She excitedly helped us open our gifts. There was no stress at all. M and I were happily in the floor, coffee and cameras in hand. We even called Mellie's house, where we were supposed to officially breakfast, and said we'd be late because S was having fun and we weren't going to make her stop playing for breakfast casserole. It was great. Also, this almost-four-years-old Christmas was pretty magical. S was in love with everything about the holidays, and frankly, I wanted to share that with her as a family. It won't be the same next year (or ever again) because she'll have a little brother. So, just this once, all of the excitement was hers, and it was amazing. There will be more excitement when there are two kiddos, I know, but this one was about just the three of us, and I do believe I'll treasure it forever and ever and ever.

There is an inexplicable love for this Pillow Pet.

This was the gift S chose for M. Do not call it an ornament. It is a Good Luck Charm, and she made him hang it on the doorknob to his office when we went there yesterday.

Mr. Ouiser loves Peyton Manning so much that he's branded me.

Eventually we did make it to Mellie's. Then we made it to Mr. P's to give him the stocking that Santa left him at our house. Then we played a bit at home. Then we headed to Columbia for Christmas with my dad-family. There were presents. There was soup. There was a very tired Little Ouiser. Then there were board games and bed.

It was a great Christmas.

Since then, we've mostly chilled out, though we've managed to run loads of errands together and M and S had a campout in the family room floor. Christmas really is pretty awesome, especially when you're blessed enough to get to spend two weeks together as a family.

Now, though, the house must be dealt with, and that's a whole different post...but I wanted to get to the good stuff before I started to complain. You know, since it's Christmas and all.

*Completely unrelated. In the six-plus years that we've been married, I don't believe we've ever broken any of our dishes. The technical exception is one cereal bowl that we somehow chipped the edge of. It's not bad, and I've never gotten rid of it despite it's imperfection. Now I'm glad. I just realized that it serves a very important purpose. I've been enjoying a bowl of black bean soup while I wrote this post, and the little divot in the edge of the bowl provides a perfect resting place for the handle of the spoon. I've never noticed it before, but I have now, and I have a new favorite bowl. You're welcome for the information.