Sorry I've been so silent lately, but the holidays are a time for my family and I've just had to spend as much time with my girls as humanly possible (those 'girls' by the way include the Mrs.)

I'm chalking this year up as a success. Georgia wanted only one thing this year - a Disney Princess Little Mermaid Talking Vanity. If you take a gander at it, you'll see that it rates an 11 on a 1 to 10 scale of gaudiness. And we found out that's what she wanted after we had already spent an inordinate amount of money on all her other gifts. We thought we could get away without getting her one, but when she sat on Santa's lap and he asked her if she wanted anything else and all she said was 'No, I just want the Arial Makeup Vanity', we knew we were in trouble.

We ended up buying her a different, less gaudy desk. We worried she'd not like it, but at 7:something on Christmas morning she comes screaming in the door that Santa brought her her vanity!!!!! I was almost in tears just watching how happy she was.

Irelyn, on the other hand, was totally freaked out by the Tickle Me Elmo Extreme (TMX).

The Mrs. got a new camera, a Canon SD630. I bought her a USB hub / Card reader because she always complains that she can never look at the pictures she takes. Turns out, her laptop has a built in SD card reader so I gotta take back the @!#%* thing.

Me? Got my Glock 29 as well as two Wüsthof knives for the kitchen - an 8" chef's knife as well as a 5" Santoku knife. My girls got me a new belt, but it appears daddy's waist isn't quite the same size as previously thought.

A good Christmas over all. The family was happy and that's the greatest gift for me anyway.

Hope everyone here had a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to boring you to tears during the new year!