Whatever Wednesday: What'd ya get?

So. It's after Christmas, and everyone's asking this question, so I will too: What'd you get?

Our Christmas was probably one of the best I've ever had. It did have a few bumps, things that annoyed me, and it very easily could have turned out to be the worst Christmas ever. But, I was determined that since I worked so hard to make it a good Christmas that I wasn't going to let anyone elses bad attitude suck me down.

We'll start with the bad, so that we can get that out of the way and end on a good note. I went over early on Christmas Eve (where we had our first family party) to my Mom's house to help her clean and cook and all that good stuff. My brother was there and was no help what-so-ever. Not only was he no help, but he was actually in the way. When I asked him to do something, I was told flat out no (and it wasn't like I was sitting on the couch eating bon bons and asking him to scrub the kitchen floor.) When I went to vacuum the floor he seriously said to me "you're going to do that now? I'm trying to watch Beverly Hills Cop." ...People were coming in a hour, he has a TV in his room where I wasn't vacuuming, I was pretty much like, really? Then I asked him to bring up an extra chair from the basement and he told me it was too heavy. He had crap to say when I brought the chair up by myself. Then he left with my cousin to go get some weed.

Merry Christmas, right? The icing on the cake was when I asked him to help me catch my Mom's 3 cats to put them in the basement (my cousin was coming and is HIGHLY allergic) And again, he flat out told me no. He hadn't done anything that day. I not only cleaned my own house, but cleaned my moms, rearranged the furniture, and run a billion errands (one of which was for him.) Then my sister comes home from work and has a huge attitude, and starts ordering my brother around, which of course starts a fight between them. My sister's complaining about how the house looks a wreck (we had 9 people in my mom's house, which isn't huge. We had just finished eating, so yeah, there were plates scattered around. I mean it was a party, things get a little messy.)

My sister's gift to me also pissed me off a little. I mean it was a gift, so I can't really complain, she didn't HAVE to get me anything. But I did bust my ass taking her shopping the day before Christmas Eve (so places were CRAZY!) I also went out on Christmas Eve to get her a visa gift card that she HAD to have, which I thought was a gift for someone but later turned out was so she could order a pair of jeans for herself. I wrapped her gifts for her... I mean I busted my ass, and I watched her not only spend a lot of money on people, but also search for gifts they'd really like. What does she give me? A 20 dollar bill. Merry Christmas! It just hurt my feelings because NO thought was put into it.

It's hard with family because sometimes you really just want to strangle them. My brother and sister are both older than me, but sometimes I wonder who's more mature. I have my own moments, don't get me wrong, but this Christmas I was so done with them. I tend to have a guilt complex where I can't really say no to anyone, but next year I'm not doing it. Buy your own gifts, wrap your own crap, take care of your own shit. I have my own family to worry about. And, I'm just the kind of person who I don't mind helping you out as long as you seem grateful for the help. I don't even think I got a thank you from my sister for doing all of that for her. And if I said that to her? I KNOW she'd answer with "Well, you didn't HAVE to do it." And she's right, I didn't, which is WHY she should be grateful. I mean I know if I don't do it, it'd end up on my Mom's shoulders, who has plenty of her own crap to do.

The last thing that bummed out Christmas is the most trivial. I didn't get what I wanted. My period actually came the day after Christmas. So. I'm bummed but at least my period is coming pretty regularly, which makes it easier to know when's the best time to try. Now my next period is due a few days before my birthday, so I'm hoping I'll now get a positive test for my birthday. It'll mean the new baby's birthday will be right around Cayden's, I found out I was pregnant with Cayden a few days before my birthday. So. We shall see.

The only other thing that made me angry was of course, my in laws. They didn't get us anything for Christmas, which is totally fine, and I mean that. That's not what Christmas is about. I complained about my sisters gift because I would have rather had something she spent 5 bucks on but thought a lot about than to just be handed a 20 dollar bill, or even something she spent no money on but made or something. The thing that ticked me off about my in laws? They asked for gifts. And that just seems SO rude to me. I mean of course we were going to buy them gifts, but I just think that if you know you're not going to be able to give gifts, you don't ask for one, ya know? I'm not even sure we got a thank you for the gifts we gave them. They didn't help at all when they were here for Christmas, didn't really socialize. Finally, before they left they said "Well, when are you going to bring the baby up to the house?" Which, I was like, OK good, they're making an effort to see him. Jeremy said he didn't know, we could try to work something out, which was followed by "Well, OK, we just wanted the TV from the basement moved upstairs." They didn't really want us over there, they just wanted Jeremy to move crap around for them.

The good about Christmas: There was so much good about Christmas. Seriously. I mean my sister and my brother annoyed me, as did my in laws, but like I said, I worked SO hard on making this a good Christmas. My Aunt came to Christmas Eve, which was REALLY nice. My Aunt is an alcoholic and had a falling out with my Mom (I may have explained it before, I'm not sure.) But anyway, a lot of times my Aunt will say she's coming to something and then not show, and so it was just really nice that she was there. And I love seeing her with my son, she's so funny and loving. So, it was nice to have her there.

It was nice to spend time with my family in general, really. My Mom really appreciated all the help I gave her, and the food was amazing, which is always nice. Everyone loved the gifts I gave/made, which made me feel really good.

Christmas morning was the best. We spent it with just me, Jeremy, and Cayden in the morning, and at first I was bummed that my Mom wouldn't be there to watch him open up gifts, it was just, really nice to spend the morning with my own little family. Sometimes being with my own family makes me a little sad, just because it's weird, ya know, to spend your whole life doing certain things with certain people and then all of a sudden you're branching off into your own deal. (Does that make sense?)

Cayden did get spoiled this year. I keep telling myself I have to watch it, because I don't want him used to getting everything he wants, I don't want him to be spoiled. But, I think any parent can tell you, sometimes it's hard to hold back, especially since this was really the first Christmas where he gets it.

It was hilarious though, when he finally got the whole opening gifts thing. At first I would hand him a present and have to help him, and he wouldn't understand why I wanted him to tear paper off a box. But he started to see what was under the paper were toys. It was hilarious because we found a little tikes pick up truck (kind of like the cozy coupes? The little cars that you scoot along with your feet?) at the thrift store for 15 bucks. He saw it, loved it, got in it and was playing with it, and then spotted his last presents. He got out of the car, ran over to it all by himself, and started opening it. He stopped halfway through to look inside and went "OoOoo" I know Christmas isn't about the gifts, but it made me so happy to see him so happy.

So. The famous question: What did you get? Well. I got a lot more than I was expecting too. My brother got me the Bop It game, which sounds like an odd gift but I actually really wanted one. I'd play with them all the time in the stores, but it was one of those things that while I wanted one, I couldn't justify spending my own money on it. So I was really happy with that. My Mom went overboard. She bought me my new phone about a month ago, I got it early though. Then she bought me a snuggie, which again, sounds lame, and when they first came out I thought they were lame, but they're actually super awesome and I'm glad I got one. She also got me a sapphire heart necklace with diamonds that I wanted. Sapphires are Cayden's birthstone, and it's funny/weird because my engagement ring is actually a sapphire on either side of a diamond. While my husband and I got married while I was pregnant, we were engaged months before I was, so there was no way of knowing that sapphire would be our baby's birthstone. Cayden was also actually supposed to be an October Baby, so his birthstone almost wasn't sapphire. So. I now have a thing with sapphires. There's actually a wedding band that I hope to get some day that is sapphire/diamonds which would match my engagement ring. I'm not huge on jewelry but I love my sapphires. She also got me a new journal and actually put 75 dollars in it, which was REALLY nice of her. I also love the fact that I got a new journal, I used to keep one all the time and I've stopped for awhile. It'd be nice to pick it up again.

Jeremy said he wasn't giving me a gift, but went out Christmas Eve and got me one of those foot spa things, which I wanted. We ended up taking it back though, because it didn't heat up the water like it was supposed too. Still, I was surprised that he got me a gift at all! My cousin got me an amazing gift, she bought me a gift card to Jeni's, an ice cream place around here that I'm obsessed with. It's a little expensive but SO good. Then she got me a gift card to go to the spa with her, which I am SO excited about. I think I'm going to use it to get a fancy hair cut. I've never had a "real" haircut, where they give you a consultation and all that, so you don't know how excited I am. I may even wait till hubby gets paid again and also get some highlights. I'm not sure.

We did Christmas at my husband's Aunt and Uncle's house Sunday, which was a lot of fun. I love that part of his family so much. His cousins are SO nice and super interesting. His Aunt and Uncle gave us a walmart gift card, and his cousin gave us a visa gift card, and his other cousin gave us a history channel dvd, which is super awesome because his cousin is really into Native American history and that kind of stuff and is actually in the movie as a reinactor (is that the right word to use?) So I'm actually really excited to go watch it.

I believe that's all. I got a lot of things, and I'm so lucky and blessed. We went shopping after Christmas and were able to get a lot of things on mark down that we're saving for holidays or birthdays or next Christmas, so I'm actually ahead of my shopping once again!

So, how was your Holidays? What'd you guys get?