I hope everyone had a good Christmas. We did.

The Boy is seven and he “gloms” onto certain words and has his own cute kind of sentence structure. When asked, for example, if he is tired, he’ll reply with something like:

“Not really, but I am.”

or

“I’m kind of sleepy but I’m not.”

When he was in language therapy, he and his therapist would work through small stories. She’d read them to him (or he would read it) one sentence at a time and work at helping him put a picture of that sentence in his head. Then they’d move on to the next sentence and so on. Later, she’d have pictures of a story and he’d have to put them in sequence and then tell the story. When it was all done, she’d have him tell it to her again and she’d write it down. She told me that she’d often write down exactly what he said because he has his own special way of expressing himself.

My favorite was a story about firemen coming to an apartment building to put out a fire. He knew all about the Cullen family (yes, the girl was totally into Twilight at the time and talked about Edward Cullen all the time) who were making dinner and the pan caught fire before the firemen got there. The story started like this:

“Once upon a time last Friday…”

I so want to start a book that way!

Anyway, a few days before Christmas, while we were doing our normal nighttime prayers, he said, “Dear God, please let me have infinity presents under the tree.”

Okay, so there weren’t infinity presents, but there were so many for him that we were all finished opening and I was cleaning up the wrapping paper and boxes (we were at my in-laws’) and I realized at least one thing I bought for him wasn’t there. Beloved and I went home (1.5 miles away) to look for it and so Beloved could change out of his pajamas. Yes, we’d driven over to the grandparents’ house while he was in his pajamas.

We couldn’t find it but figured the Boy had enough that he wouldn’t miss it. Then later, I found two presents for him, still wrapped, under his pile of gifts! We also found a resent of Beloved that he hadn’t opened either.

My brother and sister-in-law had mailed us gifts from Ohio or ordered gifts and had them mailed to us. I had done the same thing for them, but we had a bit of a mix-up.

I told my brother that if the gift was addressed to him, his wife should open it because it was his gift and visa versa. This failed, as she opened boxes addressed to her and he did his. Sigh. He told me later that, yes, I had explained my “code” to him, but he forgot.

My husband and father-in-law said what I’d done had been too complicated. What I need to do next year is address things to myself at his house. If it’s for my brother, use my husband’s name and if it’s for his wife, use mine. Okay, like that’s less complicated.

The upshot is that there was a gift sent here from Sephora – the amazing make-up store that the Girl considers her Mothership and that I am enamored of, as well. It was addressed to me, so given my code, I figured it was my gift and told the Girl to open it and wrap it for me.

Christmas morning, she got a Sephora gift card from her uncle and aunt and I got a box of Sephora make-up – a variety palette of eyeshadows and lipcolors, three Sephora Opi nail polishes (which I LOVE) and a set of lip glosses. They also sent me five chick flick DVDs.

The Girl, when all was said and done, said, “Mom, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or selfish or anything, but I think Uncle and Aunt might have sent me a gift that didn’t come.” All she’d gotten other than the gift card (we all got gift cards) was a t-shirt, and I’d gotten the make-up and all the movies.

I called my brother to find out if possibly a gift didn’t arrive. (We still haven’t gotten the gift we ordered for my father-in-law.)

That’s when we found out that they hadn’t sent ME anything from Sephora! It was for the Girl.

Sigh, again. FAIL.

Anyway, since I got a Barnes & Noble gift card from them, the Girl suggested that we switch cards. I have too many books in my to be read pile that I don’t need that card. She has fewer books and since she got the Sephora gift, she is giving me her Sephora card. It all works.

Plus, she gave me a huge set of make-up brushes and we’re going to share them and the stuff she got!

What did you get and how was your holiday?