i know why i'm still awake...why are you?

so it's almost midnight.

i'm still awake.

charliehorse in my left leg...just enough to let me know it's there & irritating.

went to Toys R Us & dropped about $140 in cash & prizes for the Niece & Nephew's Christmas. i have the feeling Uncle Brendan & Aunt Balerie are going to be HUGE heros this year.

i LOVE toy shopping for kids. love, love, love the feeling that, most of the time, what we get is gonna go over huge.

i remember that with my mom. any gifts she got me, as a kid (with the exception of the non-purchase of the Valerie doll...but that's another blog) just...well, ROCKED.

she was totally cool. every toy she got me was cool.

i wanna be that cool. not that it's soooooooo important to give kids what they want every time, i know it isn't.

i just wanna be the cool auntie that these kids want to spend time with. even though B & i are "old."

my best friend, Kristie, has two of the coolest kids on the planet. J, now 13, was 5 when B & i married; she was our flower girl.

these two kids LOVE Disneyland (knew there was a reason why they rocked!). but, more important to my ego...they LOVE to go to Disneyland with ME.

huh?

couldn't figure that out. after all, i'm older than their mom. and in that world, people, that's OLD.

then, one day, Kristie laid it on the table for me. i, according to her kids, was more like a huge kid than an adult.

right on.

as a kid (and even now), i never had much use for most grown-ups. they usually ruined everything. but, time munches on. i grew up.

sort of.

but, Disneyland is still one of my favorite places to go. matter of fact, i'm now thinking of ways i can coerce my husband into going tomorrow...if only for a few hours.

but to realize that these kids would rather go with me, old as i am, to Disneyland than any other adult...

yee-ha.

if i can't be that kind of parent, at least i can be that kind of auntie.

life's good.