Post-Holiday Mashup - Best Gifts Edition

We didn't do a whole lot of giving and receiving of material stuff this year. We didn't have the extra cash, and a lot of the people we normally exchange gifts with didn't have a lot of cash. I made some things for some awesome people and of course we bought for the kids in the family, but that was about it. Frankly, I was ok with that arrangement. It took a lot of stress off of me in a year I couldn't handle much to start with. And we've all kinda gotten to a place where if we really want something we buy it for ourselves, so I really didn't need anything.

But material stuff aside, I got a lot of great gifts. Mainly, help and rest!

Last week my mom came to visit. She was planning to stay one night, keep Kaycie during our doc appointment on Wednesday, and help me straighten up a little around the house since we were having our family Christmas here on Friday. Clearly she didn't realize how much help I needed with that, because by Wednesday afternoon, when it was time for her to leave, she called and told everybody she was staying another night to help me get a little more done. People, my mother cleaned my bathrooms. I've gotten big and uncomfortable enough that cleaning the tub and floors is nearly impossible, and I'm not happy being surrounded by bathroom cleaner fumes anyway, so the bathrooms haven't gotten a good cleaning since before Thanksgiving. I was afraid I was going to have to rent a port-a-potty for our guests. Between cleaning the bathrooms, helping me organize a few things in the kitchen, and entertaining Kaycie, it was a very awesome gift.

Meanwhile, Wednesday afternoon I get a text from Greg that his 2pm appointment was a setup. His office threw him another diaper shower. You know what the only really big things we still needed for MicroTot was? Diapers. I unloaded everything yesterday and couldn't believe how many there were. We're pretty set for a little while. Whew. Merry Christmas to us!

Friday night my family all converged at my house for Christmas. Now this may not sound like a good thing, but I declared myself unwilling to travel after Thanksgiving so not having to drive two hours and spend a weekend away from home was fantastic. It was just my parents and my brother with his family, so six adults and four kids total. The kids had a fantastic time and everybody was perfectly happy to eat take out BBQ and pizza, so no cooking and very little post-celebration cleaning for me. Whew. Very low stress holiday.

Saturday Greg's parents came. Again, you'd think this would create more stress, but ohhhh no. They're awesome. Terry brought all the food for two days, cooked dinner, and cleaned the kitchen while Don played with Kaycie and then helped Santa get everything put together for Sunday. Sunday morning they were there for the big Santa reveal, Terry made breakfast and lunch. We spent most of the day either eating or opening gifts and then I got to take a nap while Terry cleaned up and put all the food away. By this point I'm getting a little spoiled.

So yesterday I had to get back in the groove. Everybody was gone, the holidays over, and it was just Kaycie and I all day. School doesn't start back for another week. We had made the best of it and I was just getting into my afternoon funk of discomfort and pain when my phone rings. It's my brother's fiance with a proposition. They're going to my parents' house this weekend and want to pick Kaycie up on the way and take her to spend the weekend with her grandparents so Greg and I can have a couple of days to rest up and spend together before MT arrives.

Seriously?

The gifts just keep coming...