Christmas Words to the (not so) Wise

 After opening the Mario action figures (5 inch Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Toadstool and Donkey Kong) on Christmas morning, Matt ran off into the other room with them.  Mark called out, "Matt? Where are you going? Come open the rest of your gifts!" to which Matt yelled back, "Jill can open the rest of my presents!"  We had to practically force Matt to come back and open the rest...

Note to self: next year, make Matt open the "big" gift last.

Note to self number 2: During Christmas dinner, if your daughter happens to be sitting next to you and spills her cup of ice water all over your lap, do not refill said cup.  Chance are very good that she'll spill said ice water all over your lap again not more than five minutes later.  Fool me once, shame on you... yadda yadda yadda. Lucky for me, Jen was able to lend me a pair of her sweats while my pants (and Jill's socks) were in the drier.

Note to self number three:  If your daughter begs Santa for one "Dancing Dora" doll, chances are the novelty of the "Dancing Dora" doll will wear off in about... oh, say, twenty four hours or so.  Next time, try if at all possible to distract/dissuade/discourage the daughter in question from the doll in question to avoid wasting $40.00.

Note to self number four: If you happen to have another Christmas Eve family gathering next year, and get it in your head to order a cold cut platter from Borrelli's Italian Deli, one cold cut platter will definitely suffice.  Because when they try to tell you that the smallest cold cut platter will feed about ten people, they're LYING.  In fact, the "smallest" cold cut platter (and the antipasto platter that they talked me into ordering) would have fed one entire third world country and all their relatives for three months. At least. That said, does anyone want any meat? We have some to spare.

And, one final note to self: If you and your dearest husband (whom you love so dearly) get into a huge, frantic "tiff" Christmas morning about who last had the $150.00 worth of gift cards for the family... try looking in the vegetable crisper in the refrigerator.  That's where you'll most likely find them.