Well, the fat guy came and went and , surprisingly, this year was fairly good. I didn’t get that Madagascar DVD, but I didn’t get lesbian porn as a replacement, either. In fact, The old elf is getting much better in that department. Not only did I have multiple gifts, but I got good ones, too. We will be having fondue! Woohoo!

The monkeys, because let’s face it, it’s all about the monkeys, had a good day. Pooplette was not at all interested in anything except eating the occasional bit of wrapping paper. Unwrapping? Presents? Gimme me paper and lemme make spitballs! Muppet, for that matter, was not very interested in unwrapping his under-tree-stashed gifts either. See, he got a DIY house thing with all kinds of neat accessories like a hammer, a screwdriver, a hammer, bricks, a hammer, pipes for making the plumbing, a hammer, bolts, and a hammer. Did I mention he got a hammer? He’s hammered everything in the house, including my last nerve. I think the hammer needs a post-holiday trip to the landfill.

Lunch with the in-laws went surprisingly well. There were a couple of little messes (like half of the smoked salmon I got to “make” was bad, and the turkey was VERY WELL DONE and the potatoes stuck to the pan), but all in all it was a nice day. The E-MIL actually did let us bring the dirty dishes here to run through the dishwasher, but she did insist on scrubbing most of them first. Progress was made in that department, so we’re not overlooking that. Nor shall we down play it. In fact, it was nice not standing over her too-low sink either washing, rinsing, or drying. It was very nice indeed.

The entrées I made (because I couldn’t help myself and ended up making a few things anyway) went over very well. The arrange-a-cold-cut platter was beautiful even if the thought of that whole ordeal makes me cringe. But I dressed it up a bit with cheese and herb stuffed cherry tomatoes and made the cornichons look like lace. I replaced the bad smoked salmon with some steamed shrimp (which I happen to love, so you can imagine my giddiness when I realized the fish was less than perfect) and that broke up the monotony of the platter. And there was a plate of cold asparagus and one of canapés. And I made butter and piped it into the form of Christmas trees which was, in my humble opinion, very clever. And cute.

Once next door, Muppet decided opening gifts was the thing to do, and insisted on opening all of his gifts and all of his sister’s gifts and all of his parent’s gifts. He was very helpful, although explaining to him that while he has the right to help open said gifts, he does not have the right to play with/eat/wear said gifts was difficult. No, explaining was easy. Making him understand was something else altogether. The Psychotic SIL is again on our list of people to hate. She got Pooplette a cow/pig (yes, it’s both) that moos and oinks and plays music. Now, the noise-making toys are bad enough, but this one inspired the other SIL to start oinking and mooing in tune for the duration of the meal.

Speaking of people we now hate, the list is growing. The Pooplette’s god-father delivered a remote controlled quad for Muppet and a music-playing moving snail for his sister. Batteries and noise are things we try so hard to avoid in this house. And as Mr. God-father Man & his Wonderful Lady never plan of having kids of their own, pay-back is not really in the cards. I will think of something though, I promise you that.

We all racked up the gifts, ate like pigs, had a good time together, and went to sleep feeling fairly good. It was a good Christmas this year, probably my best yet in France.

Now, on to New Years!