For the first time EVER - and maybe for always - I am done with all major Clausing efforts before bedtime. Before the kid’s bedtime. Usually I, like countless other parents, am up into the wee hours watching tv and wrapping presents on the living room floor. Not this year. We have had a surprisingly relaxed Christmas Eve. I made candied orange peel (my first attempt, but something my Grandma Lor made every year) and gingerbread snowmen and sugar cookies with green and red sprinkles. I finished wrapping this afternoon. Dex made chocolate martinis. Yum.

All that’s left is to get the mountain of gifts from the master bedroom to their rightful place under the tree. We haven’t put any under the tree yet for fear the kids would at best unwrap them. Then it’s clean the kitchen, pick up toys, set up the coffee maker, relax for a bit, take a shower, fill the stockings, and go to bed.

Merry Christmas. May Santa bring you your heart’s desire.