In the end, everything was okay, really. Inlaw Eve had only a few tense moments, like when my SIL asked "How’s Mommy doing?" and I replied "Oh, she and my dad went to the movies." And, when there was a bread debacle — I took five loaves, because last I knew nephew had broken up with his girlfriend and was living at home, but apparently they are reconciling, AND my BIL was there, which has never happened before. Lately, though BIL has been coming to events, and I know it makes my MIL happy to have all her kids in the same room, so i gave them a loaf of bread (they are basically estranged from the family, but I wanted to make them feel welcome anyway, because I know how much it means to my MIL. So I’m not totally evil.) which they appreciated.  But then I was left with a niece and nephew and SIL, and 2 loaves of bread, and I am really proud of myself for explaining to my SIL the dilemma and staving off an inevitable "she gave BROTHER a loaf, but not MY KIDS" round of bitching. Also, because BIL and his wife were there, and my niece’s boyfriend, we had EIGHTEEN PEOPLE in that tiny apartment.  Same SIL and I also had the conversation of how it’s getting too big, and that we’d love to do it here when it comes time (and it’s not like my living room is bigger, but we have the dining room, and kitchen, and people can spread out more) so the plan is to spend the year trying to convince MIL to do it here. We left with a pile of food we will give away, like a can of SlimJims, a giant Hickory Farms gift set (which, I don’t trust cheese that never expires) and I, personally, got a package of those jelly candy fruit slices dipped in sugar, which is just freakin’ HYSTERICAL, because I hate them SO MUCH it’s a running joke between dave and I. Also, jelly/gummy candy makes my throat swell. We did get out annual gift cards, 20 each to Sears and Target. That was not so bad. The junk food will go to Dave’s office, probably, or the food pantry. Dave commented that having a pile of food we won’t eat really brought home how well we DO eat compared to the people in his family. It’s the thought that counts, of course, but I do hate to see my MIL spend her limited resources on beef and cheese. Then again, it’s that or slot machines, I guess.

Christmas Day with my parents was nice. It was a really good christmas, in that we got some really great stuff, but not stuff for stuff’s sake. We got a new mailbox, which makes me ridiculously happy, as our old one was just a rusty black box with an eagle/flag emblem on front. Perfectly serviceable, just ugly.  The true score, though, was from my mom.

She said she’d been looking and looking for a gift for me, and wasn’t finding anything. She also knows I don’t want just STUFF, and on Friday afternoon, they had their business christmas party, and she was telling the group that while she still hadn’t found me a present, she knew she would, and she knew it would be a good one.  After their lunch, she went to Marden’s, where they had just gotten a shipment of furniture from yet another Katrina insurance loss, only this one was from Target. We haven’t had a real coffee table since we moved here. We had a behemoth (that I hated) in the apartment, that now lives in the basement, and we’d used a table bench for the last, oh, year and a half that we’ve been here, with big plans to make our own boomerang shaped table, which never happened.

A while ago, my mom and I had seen a coffee table at Target that I liked, but you know, the boomerang dreams, so I’ve never gotten it. It was that exact table, and end tables, that she saw, that were more than 50% off Target prices. Total score. And while it’s not very 50s, I think it will be great for having kids, to have the baskets to store stuff so we don’t look like a Fisher Prices factory all the time. And the shallow shelf underneath is perfect for our iBooks, which currently live on the floor under the couch when not in use. It’s the perfect size for our living room, and I can’t believe how much more . . . grown up the place looks with real furniture. Yay!

Dave got me seasons one of both The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock (YAY!), and got the baby a globe (SWOON, I love the man) and a floor gym for the widget, too. I also got a new cookbook (How to Cook Everything) that has been on my wishlist for years.  It also inspired me to, and I am not kidding, finally unpack the Cuisinart I got for our wedding. Which was, yes, more than two years ago.  Quite a machine, the Cuisinart! Ishould use it more often! And now that it lives upstairs, maybe I will.

My mom helped me make dinner, which was a ham, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, a salad, and homemade dinner rolls (Cuisinart! Cuisinart!). My MIL came, rubbed my belly, and lost a hand. Well, not quite, but I did have to be bitchy daughter in law and tell her to not do it. My mom was here, though, which lessened the blow, because my mom said "She was nicer to you than she was to us about that!" I just find it a really intimate thing, and that only my doctor and Dave get to do it. Just like when I breastfeed, I don’t expect anyone else to expect to come up and take a swig. 

Dinner was fine, we had a raspberry pie for dessert, and watched some of "A Christmas Story," and Dave took his mom home.  We watched some Arrested Development, and crashed out.  All in all, a good day. 

Now, we’re just realxing in the rain. My folks went home to help our neighbors move into a new house, and they’ll be back tomorrow, but staying at the Days Inn for park&fly, as they are going to Colorado for two weeks, leaving on Wednesday. (We keep their car when we can, but don’t have enough room with the winter parking ban in effect.) Dave has today, and Thursday and Friday off, and I have off until after MLK day. I need to work on some projects for school, but I’ll hit those tomorrow while Dave is at work.  Today, we’re just enjoying being home and not having to go anywhere. It’s very nice.