The field trip was great. Except for one or two paranoid moms who had to take their kids with them, the kids piled on the busses and the moms headed to the multi-plex in their various SUV's.

We had a slight delay (and one mom actually started to panic) because the last two buses were terribly late, but when they arrived the kids all lined up as they were told and moved easily through the concession area (where they were handed a lukewarm Pepsi and some really salty popcorn). Then we were off to the move, single file, not saving seats, all the seats in each row full. No one even complained about the fact that their late arrival meant we had to sit in the crane-your-neck rows in the front.

There were 80 children in our theater and they were better behaved than any audience I've ever known when viewing a Jerry Bruckheimer film. Even my child, who has yet to understand that there is a difference between indoor voices and outdoor voices and movie voices, was quietly seated throughout the whole film.

He didn't seem to care if I sat near him as long as I was there. He sat down the row between his friend Sean and his "girlfriend" Coralee. Coralee and I were separated by the most darling little girl, whose name I don't know and I'm not sure Max does either - names aren't his strong suite. She was a pixie of a thing and had the most adorable glasses and that mature way of speaking that screams "I'm a child of a single parent." In case I didn't get that, she proceeded to go into her parents divorce history and how her dad has cutody.

I was wondering if this was the first Christmas after their divorce or if she was just starting to feel the push-me-pull-you of the divorced holiday. I told her my parents were divorced, too. She asked me if I liked it. That being a very complicated question where my get-up-and-go dad is concerned, I put myself back to the first time they were divorced when I was 11 and said, "No. I didn't like it very much at all. But it got easier." And then, as kids do, she changed to subject to something completely and utterly different. Like did I like the color blue or something.

When the movie was over, the kids all filed out nicely, just the way they had come in. They all got on the right busses and the moms all stood outside, waving furiously at their children. (Inside we were all thinking, "The next four hours are mine! All mine!") And as I passed between to busses to get to my waiting car I was very surprised to see my grandma standing there laughing.

It seems she was going to the theater to buy movie passes (probably for my husband). So we ended up having lunch together. Which was very nice. We don't get to do that as often as we should.

Then I came home and wrapped all of the presents.

Christmas can come now. I'm ready.