Ah. Such a nice Christmas.

It's not over.  We've got something this evening and something next weekend and something on January 6th, so we're really doing the 12 days of Christmas this year.  Well, actually, it looks like, 13.  The 13 days of Christmas.  So far, it's been lovely.  We got a lot of time with our immediate family on Christmas Eve and a lot of time with my husband's family yesterday.  Sometimes people have to rush off and it's over quickly, but not yesterday.  We were still sitting around post-breakfast at 4:00 p.m.  For a while, I thought about all the kids that have been in that highchair there at the dinner table, 9, so far, with the youngest still sitting in it at the age of 2.  :-)  We sat around snacking on fudge and french toast casserole, talking, watching the board games being played, playing with and talking to the kids.  It was just very nice.  I feel like everyone liked the gifts I picked out for them, which is a big part of my Christmas happiness, and I liked the gifts that I got as well.

My daughter did some wood burning of kitchen utensils this year.  The one above for her Dad.  It's a grill spatula and on the edges it says "I am your father". 

These she made for her brother and sister-in-law.  The first is the eye of Sauron, next says Sara's baking spoon, the third is a Dr. Who reference, then a Harry Potter reference and then a Star Trek reference, so all the geekiness is evident.  :-) 

After that, I came home, took a short socialization break (introvert!) and then went to see my aunt at the nursing home.  She seemed to like the small presents that I got her.  I hope that she gets some use out of them.   Nursing homes are just so hard.  :-(

Today, I'm off to work and then I have 2 events after that, so it's a big day.  We're also dog-sitting my son and daughter-in-law's puppy, so that adds a little layer of difficulty.  He's not house-trained completely and he's on a different sleep schedule than everyone else in our household, but my young adults that live at home aren't working or going to school this week, so it's falling on them.  Hopefully, they got some sleep last night!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

We've had a wonderful time so far.  The oldest and his wife got off work unexpectedly yesterday and we got to spend the whole day with them.  The presents all seemed to go over well ( you know I always worry they won't like them!) and my husband ignored the no presents pact and got me a car! 

I hope your holiday is just as wonderful! 

Merry Christmas!

The wise men.

We have 3 now.  Cosmo ate one of the  2 remaining old one so I ordered some replacements.  These 3 are taking the safer northern route across the top of the entertainment center. 

Getting ready for Christmas.

The shopping is done.  My daughter finished her last day of teaching preschool yesterday.  I have to work 3 days and then it will be Christmas Eve Eve.  :-)   I am still expecting one package to be delivered.  I don't remember if they guaranteed shipping before Christmas or not, but it's for my daughter and she'll be okay with it if it arrives late.  I'm excited about the presents we're giving this year.  My husband and I decided not to get anything for each other.  I'm fine with that.  What I wish for him is to get well.  In December, he's been sick already 3 times, three different things.  It's not fair.  I hope that he gets better before Christmas.  My son and daughter-in-law are working, working, working, working because it's peak season for them so even though they live here now, we'll still barely see them for Christmas.  They will be here Christmas Eve, (after working 10 hours) and we'll see them Christmas morning, but then they'll be leaving Christmas day to see her family.  So, even though it's not a perfect Christmas (what even is that?)  it's always nice to celebrate our Savior and spend time with our families.  :-) 

Almost there!

Christmas shopping is almost done!  I'm excited and happy about it and proud that I haven't obsessed over the perfectness of every little gift, as I tend to do.  That's what makes the shopping so excruciating some years is the obsessing.  I managed to rise above that this year, get what they asked for and not worry too, too much about it.  I hope I did okay.  I have one or two small things to pick up still, but they're minor and I may get them today.  Last night we went to see the Christmas program at the school where my daughter is the afterschool assistant - very cute!  And tomorrow we will go see a program at our church.  I kinda want to go to a concert tonight but no-one wants to go with me and I don't think I want to go badly enough to try and find someone who will.  I think I'll probably just let it go.  I can't decide.

Anyway, I'm excited and happy about Christmas instead of my usual grouchiness/grinchiness, and it is a very nice change.

I hope that you are enjoying the season as well.

And then, just a few days later, it's mostly done.

Okay, so we got the bulk of the Christmas shopping done this weekend.  I was lucky enough to have Friday off, so I had a 3 day weekend with not a lot else to do.  I shopped online at Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, Target, Walmart and Barnes and Noble.   Now in real life, I need to go to my small town and get some gift cards here and there and to Target in real life because they couldn't ship me the items I needed (which is frustrating, Target!)  Anyway, it's almost done. 

Speaking of things that are done, youngest son is done with his first semester of college and believes (is pretty sure) he got the following grades.  He can't for sure find his algebra grade online and they haven't been posted to the official website yet, each professor has just posted them here and there.  I guess.  That's what it sounded like when he explained it to me.  It's different now than when I was in college back in the dark ages and we got our grades through the United States Postal Service. 

Writing 101   B
History          B
Freshman Year Experience   B
College Algebra   C
Chorus          A

Chorus is pretty much a guaranteed A, you just have to show up.   In History and FYE the reason he didn't get an A had to do with, I think, just learning to be in college and messing some things up at the beginning and his C in Algebra stems from his difficulty showing his work.  He knows what the answer is, but he can't show the steps his brain used to get there.  He's both exceptionally gifted at math and learning disabled at math and the school could not (would not) accommodate that, so he ended up with a C.   We're all thrilled with his writing B because, with dysgraphia/dyslexia, writing is the most difficult thing for him.  This is a victory!   I think it's better than I did my first semester in college and I was a traditional, non-learning-disabled person.  I was finding out that I needed to study.   He does not need to study, just absorbs everything from class and reading and so, spent a relaxing finals week not studying and not worrying about anything.   He did well on finals, the fact that he didn't get As is due, as I said, to some mistakes early on while he was trying to get it all figured out.  (Not that we're hung up on getting As, it's just fun for us, watching him do so well when for a while there, we were so worried~! ) 

In other Christmas news, we finally got the tree up, the decorations hung and placed around the house.  Cosmo ate one of our 2 remaining wise men, so I've ordered a replacement from Ebay.  Isn't the internet grand?  It's from a set I bought in the 80s, but I go on Ebay and find matching wisemen.  Pretty amazing, really.

It begins.

With much less whining and obsessing than usual, I have begun my Christmas shopping.  I've picked up a couple of things from the local game store, a couple of things from Walmart and today I've been shopping on Etsy, Amazon and Walmart.com.  I hold on so tight to money all year that it's hard for me to actually start spending money at Christmas.  :-) 

It's almost here, you guys!!!