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***A helpful tip for next Christmas: When there is a family member who already thinks you are slightly lower than a piece of dogshit on her shoe, do NOT attempt to parent her child when he rips a toy out of your own child’s hand and then pushes him down.  Never mind that said parent was not just not paying attention but flat ignoring the fact that her child is, well, mean, it still is not at all beneficial to attempt to protect your own child from being hurt.

***The holiday ended none too soon.  Our poor tree is dropping needles all over the floor, and we are in the process right now (meaning Steve is in the process of) of undecorating.

***Another helpful tip for next year: do not let all four kids sleep in one big bed on Christmas Eve unless they are going to sleep in a room that does not have an alarm clock.  The rule has always been that we do not get up before 6:00, and I have to have coffee ready and in a cup before anything can even be looked at.  Eli set his alarm for 5:45, so that when my clock flipped over to 6:00, they were all giggling outside the door with coffee in hand.

***We went to church at R. and J’s church on Christmas Eve; I was very emotional anyway, but when, during the Prayers of  The People, a lovely woman called B. specifically prayed for all single mothers, I wept unashamedly.  I know it’s all about the ritual, the whole church thing on Christmas Eve, but when Sam and I knelt for communion, it felt very profound and spiritual and peaceful.

***Dinner with a Priest, a deacon, and an openly and flamboyantly gay man (along with the rest of us) is more fun than you can imagine.  The priest, R. said (jokingly) that he was a little loopy because he had to finish off the communion wine, and it just took off from there.  I had no idea.  It was so lovely to be with these people who really like me and my family, and who all also share the same rather odd sense of humor.  The woman who does NOT like us was not there (the I-Cook-Better-Than-You woman) and it really made all the difference in the world.

***As soon as I finish off the caramel Chex mix and the orange-chocolate and the leftover rolls and the rest of the pie, I am not eating another sweet, junky, happy thing.  I swear.

***As hard as the holidays tend to be for me, this one was better than usual, and I feel really glad today.  It was all I had hoped for, the kids were all well-pleased with their gifts and mostly, the being together was the best.  I was slightly annoyed yesterday morning after we got done opening presents-everyone either went back to bed or disappeared downstairs, and I felt a little negelcted.  But then I remembered that it was their holiday, too, and not really about me at all, and I enjoyed the rest of the day.

Well, I think that is really all I have for the week.  Now if you want to read more fragments, go see Mrs.4444, the amazing host of Friday Fragments.