our christmas

Life seems to be getting back to normal. Finally. I had to work at the bank yesterday and it was so busy due to the holidays. Today will be busier because the post offices were closed yesterday. I'm glad I'm not dealing with that craziness. I am on my second viewing of the movie Curious George. My son and daughter spent the day with Grandma yesterday while I was at work. They went to the library and he found a new movie to watch. He's hooked. Last time he found The Fox And The Hound 2. That's a really cute movie too.

Christmas was weird for me this year. It snuck up on me and then was gone without much fanfare. On Christmas Eve, we went to my in-laws and had dinner. After dinner and some football, we went to Christmas Eve service at our church. I always love that. The end of the service is candlelit and we sing "Silent Night". That's the song I always sang to my kids when they couldn't sleep as infants. It's always bittersweet when we don't have my daughter for Christmas (like this year). I wonder if that's why I felt so blah this year?

My husband and I stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve and exchange gifts then. I like to have a special time with him outside of the craziness that Santa presents bring. I got the hiking boots I asked for, a really great lavender gift set with lotion, bath salts, shower gel, soap, etc. I also got a copy of each of my favorite magazines. I got one of those "Life is Good" shirts that I drool over every time I see them. And I got some Peach Bellini mix to make my favorite drink (non-alcoholic, of course - I don't really drink). I was amazed that he paid attention to the things I like. I mean, it isn't that I thought he doesn't but it was nice that he did.

We woke up on Christmas and our son was ecstatic! Here are a few pictures of the joy.

#1 on his list this year was Mack from Cars movie. He also got the movie. He LOVES it. I love it when he quotes it out of nowhere. He thinks he's Lightening McQueen. I call him Stickers. :)

I'm so glad my husband caught this on film. He looks like the Karate Kid! Actually he was dancing with joy because he got the things he wanted. I wish everyone was so easily pleased.

You can't really see the expression on his face but he was amazed that Santa brought this. We ran across it at the Christian bookstore and he came just short of laying on the ground and refusing to leave. It is the pirate ship from Jonah, the Veggietales movie. After a little while, he was frustrated because he forgot to ask for the whale!

Another drooled over item. We already have the GeoTrax train from Fisher Price (I highly recommend it!) but he wanted a Thomas train. So Santa brought this little set.

While I'm putting pictures in, I put this next one in. We started a new tradition this year. We went and cut down our own tree. I figured it would be a nightmare, trucking through the woods and cutting down a 15 foot tree because that's all they had. I kept my thoughts to myself though and it was great. We drove for 45 minutes or so and there were plenty of trees left. It was really fun. Check out the little man's hat at the bottom of the picture. My mom made it. Oh, and that's my muscular husband with the tree. Funny actually because the trunk of the tree was only about 4 or 5 inches in diameter. I picked it up with ease.

After we spent some time at home on Christmas Day, we went over to my mom's house. I am so blessed that my in-laws and my mom are okay with getting together at the same time. We had bunches of food and more presents than we could count. Here's a few more pictures.

This is the adorable sweater that my mom made for my daughter. She LOVED it!

This is my son and his uncle exploring a new toy. Check out the mess behind them!

We all pitched in and bought my mom a new weedeater for Christmas. She was surprised, I think.

The day after Christmas, we traveled to visit my husband's grandma and family. It was a quick trip but it was wonderful to see them.

Then on New Year's Eve, everyone came to our house and we played games until the ball dropped. And for a couple of weeks now, I've been telling my son that after "Happy New Year" we were going to do big boy underwear only. No more diapers. It's the last trick in the book about potty training...telling them ahead of time and letting them "plan" for it. I really was at wits end about it. Well, about 12:15 after the ball dropped, he said he had to go potty. So I run in there with him and he did it! I couldn't believe it!! He's had a couple of accidents (one with Grandpa yesterday - thanks again, Grandpa!) but he went ON HIS OWN last night after we put him bed. And he was DRY this morning! I think we've turned the corner and are on our way. We're working on the #2 part of the deal today. Say a little prayer for us. :)

I think that about brings us to date on things. One of my New Year's intentions (not resolutions, but intentions!!) is to blog more. I hope to fulfill that.

Here are a couple of other pictures I ran across while I was doing this post.

This is the cake I made for my mom's birthday just before Christmas. She has a thing with snowmen.


And this picture is the one I promised back after Halloween. It's the tail of his costume. What a cutie! (And if you look really carefully, you'll get your first glimpse of me on the world wide web!)

Well, if you're still with me at this point, thank you for reading my long post. Happy New Year!