Santa's Work is Never Done.

OK, actually Santa's work is done at about 12:20 a.m. December 25. At least in our house. The boys, per usual, are getting an obscene amount of stuff. The biggest and brightest among a sea of big, bright toys are two Thomas the Tank Engine bikes. Shiny, new and with James and Thomas on them, they are gong to be big hits, she said, hopefully.

Actually, given that the boys took a 3-hour nap this afternoon, I am pleasantly surprised that we got them to bed and finished up our elfly duties before 2 a.m., let alone at the insanely reasonable hour of shortly after midnight.

Oh and one other major debacle to report. Remember the nap? Well, while they napped, moms rolled out, baked and decorated a butt-load of sugar cookies for the family party. Task done. But then I went to take a brief 15 minute nap after they got up. My blissful rest was shattered by the heartbroken wail of my Eddie. "Mommy made them without me!" Now I was heartbroken as well. But we're going to make New Year's cookies, I promise. But maybe a half recipe as I'm sick to death of sugar cookies.

And finally, the evening would not be complete without a worry to share. We got home from my sister's house and Chas had hives all over his face -- no surprise as her dog licked him and that always gives the little allergy boy hives. But then Eddie starts complaining that his tongue itches. Eventually he decides that he bit it and it hurts. But I can't stop fretting about whether it's actually just the beginnings of anaphylaxis. I want to check on his breathing oh, every 30 seconds or so. this is not conducive to a restful night. We gave both boys Dimetapp for their colds, which contains and antihistamine. Then we gave Eddie Tylenol because he kept crying about how bad his tongue hurt. Which is probably overkill if he bit it. And drastically undertreating it if it's anaphylaxis. I'll rest much easier once the little bugger comes to crawl in bed with us.

Oh, and Merry Christmas!