I went out to eat with my siblings and Dad tonight. Since the two siblings in question live in NC and I don't, that's pretty cool.

After dinner, the waitress wished us happy holidays.

I smiled and said, You, too. But inside I was wondering, what holidays? Oh, yeah. Christmas.

It's not that I don't celebrate Christmas. I do. I celebrate with trees, usually. With lights, if my hubby and I get them up. With presents, always. With a little child's nativity set, where the three wise men don't show up till Jan.6 and baby Jesus shows up Christmas morning.

But this year, my sibs from NC came in and we celebrated Christmas yesterday.

We started with an early dinner, 4 pm. We had Mexican Steak, which my brother cooked as usual. (I love this stuff and will try and get the recipe up this week.)

Then when the dishes were done (My wonderful husband washed and I dried.), we went into the family room and opened presents.

I received a set of sheets. Which I wanted and needed. Sheets, you say. Why sheets? Well, ours have holes in them. (I noticed yesterday morning.) And I hate to spend $30 or more for something no one except my husband and I see. Normally I buy sheets when ours are threadbare. So I was thrilled.

I received three great sets of cute underwear. New and improved. Curves ahead. Bombshell. Those were the signs on the backs of the cute underwear.

I received a book, March to the Stars. That was from my brother who happened to find a copy on his trip here. It's a January printing and available from amazon.com after December 24.

I also got a chapbook from Miller and Lee, who are some of my favorite authors. Their Liaden books are absolutely wonderful. And I hadn't ordered the chapbook myself. So I was thrilled to get it.

And I got a gift certificate to Chili's. I like to eat their queso on my free days. My boys always like to eat there.

Everyone else also got presents. Hopefully ones they appreciated as much as I did mine.

Then we loaded up the car and headed home.

In my mind, Christmas was over.

But it's not. I still have some small presents for my kids and parents, who will be with me on Christmas day. But not for my sexy spouse, who will also be here. (Hmm. Guess I better hit the malls tonight.)

And there's a turkey in my fridge. Say a prayer for me. I've never made a turkey. I've always had turkey at my in-laws or celebrated with Mexican Steak, at least since my family had enough money to have meat at Christmas.

So, Christmas isn't over. I've got to remember that. Or I'll start wondering why the bank is closed on a Wednesday.