Post-Christmas Joy

Well, Christmas is over and the New Year hasn't begun. It's time for the annual trek back to the store to exchange those gifts that were the wrong size, or the wrong color, or that you just didn't like (unless it's a fruitcake... you can't exactly exchange food).

If you are like me then you had a hard time fitting all the Christmas presents into your pre-Holiday budget. Now is the time of clearance sales and great bargains on Christmas decorations for next year. You can even keep that fruitcake for next year if you want to. (My husband always said that fruitcake didn't taste right unless it had "aged" at least a year in the freezer. Well, honey... you're welcome to it. Yuck!)

This year, all the adults in the house decided to do our major shopping after the Holidays. You can spread the hit on your budget over several paychecks, you get better bargains, and in general the adults don't care if their present is late.

Orange is my favorite!

Kids on the other hand are a different story. It just wouldn't be Christmas without seeing the joy of a young child at seeing all the toys Santa left by the Christmas Tree. For example, my 20-month-old niece was very surprised at the drawing easel she received this year. I have no idea where Santa picked it up, but it's a chalk board on one side and uses dry erase crayons on the other. I'd never heard of dry erase crayons before. Of course now the trick is trying to teach the niece that crayons are not food. She also received a new play kitchen which has a stove and a microwave on it. She loves it!

I'd never thought about having little ones in my house until my niece was born. She is such a joy (and a lot of hard work... how do single parents do it?). One of the cutest things she does with me is try to get me to play "Plants vs Zombies" on my PS3. Almost every time she sees me, she gets excited and says "zombie!". It's so adorable that I just have to give in and play the game with her. If she keeps this up, I may have to change my nickname to "Zombie Jill"...

Trekkie Jill and Niece playing Plants vs. Zombies