Yikes! Christmas is just 20 minutes away!

I can't believe how behind I am this year and how much I have to do yet. I just got done finding all of Cody and Trent's presents. That's the problem with shopping early, you hide the presents and then you're not sure where you put them! I would have this stuff done already, but I have made a vow that I would not stress or obsess over Christmas, that I would live in the moment, enjoy the people around me and take time to spend with people that I love. That's why all my stuff isn't done yet!

We've had a great time the past couple of days with all of our pre-Christmas activities:

• Friday I let Cody stay home from school (I know, I'm a bad Mom) and we went to the mall with my niece who's 1 1/2, my Mom and my brother Allen to "Build a Bear". The we had a nice lunch at the food court where I lost a race to get a table for us. Luckily I was in the Christmas spirit and didn't do anything mean.
• Friday afternoon we had Trent's shop Christmas party with Tailgate BBQ and cheesecake for dessert - YUM!
• Friday night I picked my niece and nephew, Josh and Kayle, up from school and they came over to spend the night. We made chocolate dipped candy canes and homemade hot cocoa in my new kitchen gadget, the "Cocoa Latte" machine while watching "Christmas Vacation" - the best Christmas show ever.
• Then we took the kids, along with Cody's friend Chris to the Candlelight service @ GCC. If any of you were there, Chris was the last one to blow his candle out in the 9:00 service. The service was awesome and my Christmas is never complete without it!
• Saturday a.m. we had Trent's family over for presents and brunch. Uncle Jeff taught Cody how to make home made biscuits and gravy and it was sooooo good - yum! We got lots of cool stuf and had a blast!
• Saturday afternoon we cleaned up and took a 2 1/2 hour nap - now that was really nice!
• Saturday evening our friends Tristan, Ameila and Karissa came over and hot cholate with us - yes, from the new Cocoa Latte machine.
• Then we went to our neighbors, The Warner, house (Chris's parents) and joined in their family celebration, which is always fun!
• Then we went to our good friends the Mann's house to hang out with Merri and Aaron, John and Ang, Elizabeth, and Kevin. Debbie had lots of good food and we just had fun, relaxed and laughed a lot!

So now I'm sitting here typing on my blog and it's only 5 minutes until Christmas now. I can't believe how relaxed I am about being behind. I must be mellowing out in my old age! The older I get the more I realize that Christmas isn't about all the extra stuff you do, or about having a Martha Stewart holiday or a Better Homes and Gardens house - the only thing that matters is loving the people around you the way the Christ loved us. I love celebrating the day that He cam to the earth to teach us how to live and to give his life for us so that we could live forever with Him. What's more important than that?

Christmas Past!

Since I still haven't had time to figure out how to get my pictures out of my new digital camera, I was browsing and thought I'd share some highlights from last year's Christmas, in order to get in the spirit of things.

One of the traditions that we have is that Trent's family gets together the night before Christmas Eve, we eat junk and watch Christmas Vacation, and then everyone stays the night at our house (used to be Grandma's house so when we bought the house the holiday traditions stayed with the house). In the morning we get up and open presents and have brunch.

Last year we decided we wanted to do something different other than just hang around the house, so we went bowling at OC Lanes. There were some interesting characters there that night!

Here's my family:
Top row (l to r): Trent, Shaun, Mom, Hank, Emma, Dad
Bottow (l to r): Me, Kayle, Cody, Josh not pictured: my brother Allen.

A picture for Trent's office of "Damage" our Silver Lake beater. Thanks Jeff Peterson - great shot!

I had waited YEARS to get a clapper - I'd sung the song at least a million time (clap on . . . clap off . . . you know the rest) - and finally I got it! We hooked it up to the light by my bed but it would go crazy at every little sound and would turn on in the middle of the night. I had to take my long awaited Clapper back to Osco's. Sad.

Cody and Mom on Christmas morning. Yeah - I know I'm a dork for wearing a Santa hat, but I love them! I have a leopard print one for this year.

That's it - I'm too pooped to party any more!

I'm Back!

Oh My Gosh - I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I posted - that will never happen again! My problem is that I got a new camera, which isn't really a problem except that I can't get the pictures OUT of my camera so that I can post them on my blog. I'll work on it this weekend and I'll have a ton of stuff to catch you up on.

I'm off to Woodfield Mall and Ikea with my Mom and my Aunt today. We're having lunch at PF Changs and then dinner at The Cheesecake Factory or the Weber Grill restaurant. Can't wait!!