THE BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!....and I've been tagged-twice!

My husband has been going on and on about a present he had gotten for me for Christmas - something he said was "fit for royalty". He told me it had shipped and would be ready for pick up today.
Yesterday I finally got both of my boys' Christmas stockings packed and ready to be mailed. Lance insisted that he mail them since he was going to the hardware store anyway and there was no sense in wasting gas twice. Meanwhile, my youngest son Skylar finished his reality show job in Big Bear on Sunday. I talked to him yesterday. He was out Christmas shopping, but he had plans to spend Christmas with his brother at my sister Lori's house in San Jose. Unfortunately, when I talked to his brother Vincent, he was sick with the flu. He said he had to work Christmas Eve and was hoping Skylar would be content to just visit him for Christmas and that they would not have make the trek all the way to San Jose (about 4 hrs from Vince's home). He has to work the day after Christmas too, poor baby!
Well today Lance went into town to pick up my present. He called, very unhappy, to say that not all of it had arrived.....When he got home he went to shut the main gate and asked me to get the pizza he'd gotten for dinner out of the car. Imagine my surprise when I opened the back door ....
and there was Skylar! My DH said he tried to have Vincent come too, but Vince just couldn't get the time off from his new job - they'd been trying to make it happen for a month!
But I was thrilled to have Sky here for Christmas.
I couldn't believe they had all kept it a secret from me! I told my DH that this was the best present ever and he can give me the same present over and over again and I will always be thrilled....next time I hope I get to see both of my boys!

I got tagged by my friend Joanne Thieme Huffman and then again by another friend from England, Wendy Coyne. So here are 7 things you may not know about me:

1. I had an idyllic, blissfull storybook childhood. When I was a teenager I had friends who were planning to run away, I wanted to go too- it sounded exciting - but I had no reason to leave home!
2. I only use one eye and have minimal depth perception. I had vision problems as a toddler and when I was 4 yrs old I had eye surgery that was unsuccessful. I was legally blind in one eye and wore thick glasses. About 3 years ago I had laser surgery. Now I can see far perfectly with the one good eye - but I need glasses for my close vision. When my mother died she left a tape with messages for each of us kids. In my message she said I was her most beautiful baby, and because she bragged about me so much, God cursed me and made me blind. Some message, huh?...I never knew!
3. I have 4 sisters and 1 brother. We are all about 14 months apart or so. I also grew up with 2 foster brothers and many many other teenagers -friends of mine and my brother and sisters- who needed a place to stay. We had an "open" house. Anyone was welcome, any time, to stay as long as they needed to. Dinner was rarely for less than 20.
4. I am very bad at all sports. My coordination in general sucks too.
5. I did not drive until I was 25 and had moved to LA and had to learn. My first car was a stick shift. Pity the poor folks who got stuck behind me going 40mph on the freeway.
6. I seriously wanted to be a nun. I walked a mile to church EVERY morning when I was 11 yrs old to go to 6:30 am Mass. yeah right. ..me a nun.
7. I raised rats and guinea pigs as a kid. I had elaborate breeding cages/nests for them that my dad built for me. I named them all and adored them. I got 25 cents per rat, and $2.50 per guinea pig. When I was about 14 I found out my mother was selling them to Stanford University....for RESEARCH! (Coincidentally that's the same year my religion class told me me the old testament was mainly not pure facts. I was doubly devastated. Thus ended my potential careers as an animal breeder as well as a mother superior.)

OK. so now I need to tag some other friends. I will do it off the blog, I think... then if they reject my request there won't be any pressure. I know, that's not following the rules........