I have to admit that I didn't have as Merry a Christmas as I wanted.

I hate to admit it because I want appear to have that "perfect" life that I feel like I should be having but I realize that I'm not perfect and I need to stop trying so hard to be.

Jerry, the kids and I (along with my niece, Mia) and Santa

I think that my expectations of Christmas are set too high.  As an adult, Christmas just doesn't hold the same magic that it does when you are a little kid.  It is a lot of work.  It is a lot of stress.  It is a lot of planning and preparing and wrapping and packing and praying. Even when you have all that done perfectly, you can't control the things that you have no control over - like how long mass will last or which of your 2 year old sons will scream his head off because he would rather eat chocolate than Christmas dinner.  Oddly enough, I think I handled those things pretty well . . . I'm not sure why I felt so down on Christmas Day, but it was a lot worse than I would have EVER expected it to be.

I made sure that the kids had a Merry Christmas and even Jerry had one!  They LOVE the X-Box 360 and Kinect.  (I LOVE watching them play with them!!!  It's hysterical! Jerry is in his GLORY playing Halo again!)  It really is great to give to others and I'm so glad that they had an amazing Christmas!

I'm not sure why that didn't make me ecstatic.  I loved seeing their faces Christmas morning!  I loved hearing the laughs, squeals and giggles.  I loved hearing how happy they were!  (Except Danika . . . she told me Santa didn't understand her because she said she wanted a BARBIE doll house not a regular doll house.  :)

Then it was over.  The over part of it kind of hit me like a ton of bricks.  That, and the fact that I forgot to take my "happy pills" for 2 days in a row because I was too tired to remember and too busy to realize I forgot, made for a weepy, stressed out, puffy eyed me at Christmas dinner.

I'm better now.  I'm actually really excited about the new year and plan on taking it on full force with a whole new plan/outlook on how to get things done!!!  I'm not going to set myself up for disappointment but I have high hopes for this new year!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!