Christmas at the Nielsens

The morning of the 24th I woke up early and headed down stairs. My internal alarm is still on work time (5am wake-ups) and I often "sleep in" until 6am or so when I am not working. We had gotten the carpets professionally cleaned the day before in anticipation of the herd of family that is coming. Bella left me a little early Christmas present. She had pooped and peed right in the middle of our beige, freshly cleaned carpet. I can't remember the last time she did that. At least a year. Thanks puppy.

We had lots of jobs to get done before the big day. Shoveling, cleaning, cooking, laundry and all that other stuff that you do to convince your relatives that you really live like this all the time. I thought that it sounded like a good idea to do these jobs while having a few glasses of Christmas cheer. I think that this is one of those things that sounds more fun than it actually is. Instead of getting happy and comfortably numb, I just got tired and cranky. Note to self- Spiced Rum and housework do not mix well.

We made it through the day and decided to snuggle on the couch and watch "it's a wonderful life". Really great movie, I forget how good this stands up on it's own as a movie, much less against the other holiday bullshit that gets pushed on people each year. We made it through with only 5 or 6 stops for questions from Tracey. She tends to ask about plot lines, conflicts and other issues. She needs the pause button so we can discuss and then move on. You can see why we no longer go out to the theater. I don't understand how she can watch "It's a Wonderful Life" to the end scene and then ask me "Why are they giving George money?". I tried once to put her on a 4 question per movie limit. We didn't make it through the opening credits.

I was very wary of the Dog given the previous days performance so I locked her in our bedroom, thinking that she would whine or scratch if she needed to go out. I was awoken at 4am by her and jumped up to let her out. She did her business outside and I locked her in her kennel, then headed back to bed, feeling like a responsible dog owner,a planner and a problem solver. I tried to slip into our on suite bathroom and not turn the light on so I wouldn't wake Tracey, and stepped in a big pile of dog shit. Merry Friggin Christmas.

So, here we are, awaiting the tribe and drinking Baileys and coffee. We are having the Loeppky family today and then the Nielsens tomorrow for Turkey. I hope that we have every thing planned out well, and that we have solved the problems. However, there is always the chance we might step in dog poop.

The Nielsens wish you are your family the very best through these holidays. Merry Christmas everyone.

Love Matt, Tracey, Carter, Bella and those Damn Cats