Check!

Shopping done? Check!
Gifts de-zip tied and unscrewed from packaging? Check!
Batteries loaded? Check!
Gifts wrapped? Check!

Tonight my sister, brother in law, and friend joined us for a sorry excuse for a party and helped us do everything but shop. Assemble, disassemble, wrap and label. Our only incentiveds were food, which I guess worked ok sincethey showed up and worked :). It only took about 2 hours with the five of us working and we all had a blast just hanging out, talking, and of course playing with the kids' Christmas toys before they can :)!

Then... We hung out for another two and a half hours talking and eating and just enjoying the time to spend together.

The kids had a fun and special night tonight as well, because my parents invited "anyone that would want to watch a movie" to come over for a movie, popcorn, hot chocolate, and time with their grandparents. We did keep two of the kids home because quite simply they wouldn't have enjoyed sitting and watching a movie and would likely have made it a more stressful event. They had a little extra time with mom and dad (and won't care that they saw the gifts before Christmas... Lol). Everyone had a fun time watching Polar Express and came home in PJs and ready for bed (while the adults covered the toys and wrapped presents with a sheet and acted like nothing special was going on...) when they got home.

THANK YOU to my parents, to Elizabeth and Jim, and to Heidi for all your help making tonight both special and productive! Who knew getting work done could also be so much fun?