Ah, the day after.

I should have relaxed. Instead, I cleaned like a maniac because at 9:00 a.m., whilst munching on a no-bake cookie and contemplating loafing on the couch doing a crossword puzzle, I saw the notice we'd received on Christmas Eve about apartment inspections occurring on December 26th and 29th. I cleaned like a maniac not because we would be found in violation of our lease agreement or because they'd discover massive amounts of mold in our bathroom but because I have this obsessive need for people to not see just how messy my home can get.

So I spent an hour and a half picking up clutter, shoving things in drawers, and barking at Beth to, and I'm paraphrasing, "...put the damn toys in. your. ROOM!" I also ran the vacuum, sucked out days-old food from the high chair, and hanging jackets in the hall closet. Then I filled a bucket with bleach and water and scrubbed the hell out of our bathroom and kitchen floors, cabinets and appliances. Then, and only then, could I feel free to get a shower and relax for 15 minutes. I just can't have perfect strangers think less of me and see an imperfect home. Even after cleaning, it still looked frightfully cluttered. Ugh.

So how was our Christmas, you ask? Not too shabby. My husband was the most excited of all of us on Christmas morning: he woke up at 5:15 a.m., asked me if I thought we should wake up Beth (to which I responded, "No. Go back to sleep!") and then got up, went to the bathroom, turned on the kitchen light, got a Coke, opened the front door to check for our newspaper, turned on the T.V. and then sat down and waited. Like no one would wake up after all that ruckus.

So then he decides he just can't wait any longer and wakes up Beth. I tell her that Santa had visited and she leapt off the couch, ran to the tree, grabbed the first present she found and started tearing into it! Thankfully, it was a gift for her, but it was very funny. Then, once she'd run through all the gifts, she started helping her brother and we discovered she was more excited about his gifts than hers. Nice. Oh well, at least she had a good morning.

The afternoon at my in-laws was okay. We were more or less ignored as we always are but we knew we would be going into it so it wasn't too big of a shock. She has her family over too, her brother and his brood, and there's eight of them all told, so they way outnumber us. Anyway, it was a nice day. The kids got lots of stuff and came away happy and tired.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas too!