The festivities begin today. Very shortly, in fact - I have to write this quick. Matt and I are supposed to be at my parents' house by nine so we can open John's presents and have brunch before he has to leave for the airport.
I don't envy John for that. He's flying to Montana today, to spend Christmas with his fiancee. He'll be travelling for something like ten hours - assuming none of his flights are delayed or cancelled, and the sheer volume of travel this time of year almost guaruntees something happens to his luggage on the way. Assuming he arrives on time, he's expected to go to midnight Christmas Eve service with his in-laws-to-be. And to top everything off, he'll be sleeping in the children's playroom - and his fiancee's older sister and her two young children are going to be spending Christmas Eve with them as well. This practically signs the death warrant on him being able to get any sleep Christmas Eve. (John is almost as bad as me about waking up early Christmas morning, but after a day that long, he might actually be able to manage!)
Oh, well. I'm sure his excitement at being able to see Sam outweighs the sheer inconvenience of travelling at this time of year. (He's flying back on New Year's Eve. Who came up with this itenerary?!?)
For the last few weeks, the post office has been making two rounds a day to get packages delivered - a "package only" delivery in the morning, and then the regular mail (also with packages) which gets to us around 4:30 in the afternoon. I thought this was a splendid thing, and I applaud the post office for doing it. (I did a lot of catalog and internet orders this year, so I was waiting on a number of packages.)
Yesterday, however, took the prize.
It started around 10:30, when UPS came by and gave us a package which contained a card from Matt's dad. (We haven't opened it yet; we suspect there might be more than just a card in it. Dad Brooks is a great believer in cash as a gift.)
Somewhat later, the post office came by with another package - it turned out to be the "free gift" from a catalog company that had been backordered when they sent the actual items I'd ordered.
In the early afternoon, I was talking to my mom on the phone and noticed the mail truck just sitting in the street outside our house. It looked like the mailman was reading a book or something. Out of curiosity, I opened the front door and saw yet another package - this time from Matt's mom. Matt opened it and put several packages under the tree. The mailman continued to sit in his truck for another few minutes until he'd finished his cigarrette break, or whatever, and then drove off.
Finally, around 4:30 with the regular mail, our doorbell rang, and Matt opened the door on another package from his mother. (Which was good, because she'd said to expect to boxes.) This box was much larger, and with much glee we threw wadded newspaper over our shoulders until we found the two presents inside and put them under the tree.
Four deliveries in one day! Maybe the mailman should start wearing Santa hats or something.
All right, well, Matt's been out of the shower for a bit, so the water's probably hot again, and we have to leave for my parents' in about twenty minutes, so I'd better get on with it.
I'll write more later!
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