A Very Nerf Christmas

Merry Christmas! This season has been a little funky for me with a few highs and lows emotionally…forever to be remembered as my manic-depressive holiday season! I definitely did not do near as much shopping as usual. Fortunately, I have a family that sees the gift of time as much more valuable than the gift of “that item purchased only so you have something to open but will most likely reside in the kitchen drawer until the next garage sale…”

We went with a different menu this year also. I sent my husband out to the store while I rolled five bins of Peanut Butter Balls. This decision resulted in a much better Christmas Eve and Christmas Day protein choice than I would have gone with….lamb and steak. We had to look up how to cook the lamb but it turned out pretty amazing…and left no unsightly carcas to deal with. I may send him out shopping for every special occasion going forward!

We originally had set up to have Christmas Eve at our house and have the kids spend Christmas Day with their significant other families…but apparently, we didn’t communicate that one very well! We ended up with one son being unable to come on Christmas Eve so we ended up getting the best of both worlds…Christmas Eve with most of the family and Christmas Evening with everyone. Best miscommunication ever!

Most of the gifts were opened on Christmas evening. This year, the best gift giver award will go to my oldest son, Christopher. When the boys pulled out three Rival Nerf Guns and a wealth of Yellow ‘bullets’, we were all sent back in time to days of little boys running around the house, knocking over valuables, and wrestling in the living room. Those were the days when our living room would be transformed into a WWF match and my poor husband would reminisce over his single days prior to marrying a family of four. Even I would wrestle then…back when I was young, cute and didn’t risk a broken bone from menopausal calcium loss.

The Nerf Wars went on for about forty-five minutes until everyone realized that while the energy that they had as children seemed limitless, quick bursts of energy as adults burn out quickly without artificial stimulation of Red Bull or coffee…none of which were readily available at 7pm. The guns changed hands multiple times as girls got involved also. My job was mainly to just protect the baby…a role that I readily accepted since running around anything lately would either result in joint pain or gasping for breath. (Did I mention that I’ve achieved my full weight potential for 2018? Yep…I’m starting 2019 with a high so my weight loss looks even more spectacular next year. It’s all in the plan…or so I tell myself!)

So this year may be my favorite Christmas ever. All three of my boys were in San Diego along with my Grandson. My husband and I had time to spend with each other that may have been more difficult had I been working more. I ended up with two family nights instead of one and the second night was a night that everyone will remember forever. Each time the memory starts to fade, I’m faced with another yellow ball rolling out from under the couch, inside our bed, or sitting on a shelf. I hope I continue to find them until next Christmas…when I will be one year older, but hopefully in better shape, since I’ve got my eye on an automatic Nerf gun that shoots 8 rounds per second. Next year I’ll be protecting Zander while I’m packing!