Christmas Vacation

This Christmas was just like the good old days. There were lots of cousins. There was chaos. There was constant noise. There were gifts that were "forgotten" until the last minutes. Santa showed up in the wee hours of the morning. Nothing was formal. Everything seemed rushed. We only had 4 1/2 days with my family.

We left our home Saturday morning at 7:50 am. Yup, I said am. Danny is a tyrant when it comes to hittin' the road. He wanted to leave at 8 am. We beat him. Yay us!!!! We drove to Atlanta and checked into a Courtyard by Marriott. It had an indoor pool for the girls. It would have been for us too if we hadn't forgotten our swimsuits. :( I used my Marriott reward points for the stay, because I could. Can't beat that deal now, can ya!

The next day we ate at the hotel restaurant and were on the road by 8:25am. (He was shooting for 9am, so we beat him again.) We arrived at my parents house around 1:30ish. The dog, Bessie Lulu was barking up a storm inside the house. My parents weren't home. They weren't expecting us until 2:30ish. They were out shopping for groceries. We helped them tote the TONS of food into the house. There were to be 16 of us for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners. Not to mention the meals in leading to those feasts. There were 2 turkeys, 2 hams, 4 pounds of butter, 4 beef roasts, a 17 pound prime rib and ALL the side dish ingredients. YUM-O.
Renee, Billy and Aaron showed up and the fun really started. I really miss not seeing them more often. It is just so far away and so expensive to fly.

My nephews are men now. How in the world did time fly so quickly. They are gorgeous men. The girls are after them too. Aaron is in LOVE with his girl friend, so sorry girls, he is taken. Ryan is busy planning for his future. Which right now is the Coast Guard. (I am not so secretly hoping they turn him down. I want him to go straight to college.)

More later...

Hoppy 12th Birthday Morgan

Before you were conceived I wanted you

Before you were born I loved you

Before you were here an hour I would give my life for you.

This is the miracle of life.

Maureen Hawkins

Morgan, You are one of the most amazing people I know. I am so very proud of the young woman you are blossoming into. Your sense of caring and justice is admirable in someone so young. I am the luckiest mom on the planet. Happy Birthday sweetheart.

(No, that is not a typo. I meant Hoppy. Morgan loves frogs. I love her, so... it is Hoppy Birthday.)

Here's what I have been up to for the last few...

Can you tell I have Christmas vacation fever.

I can't wanna work right now.

Bah Humbug & Crappy Cheese Pics

I don't feel like I have gotten much done for Christmas this year. I still haven't sent out Christmas cards, there is a box of ornaments sitting under the tree, I have completely forgotten to get the package together for Kathy in IL, I dropped the ball for gifts for people in the office. I did manage to throw together some cheesy little gifts for the girls' friends and teachers. Here is a crappy picture of these cheesy little gifts. I took it LATE last night with my phone in a dark family room. I don't have a flash on my phone camera, so it looks really bad. I think it is that evil Christmas Tree vortex that Rosemary warned me about.

You really can't tell, but they are little baggies filled with either m&m's or hard candies. I cut 3x3 squares of scrap paper and folded them in half and stapled them onto the baggies. Then to "decorate", I printed out return address labels:

Merry Christmas

From: girls' name here

There is a clip are ornament next to the wording on each label. Then slapped those tacky little suckers on each bag. The little green tube looking things are lip glosses that I wrapped up for Melissa's BFF's. Megan gave her BFF's some bath gel, lipbalm, candy, a crazy straw and a bookmark. Morgan gave hers some nail polish, lip gloss, candy, a crazy straw and a bookmark. The straws you see here didn't quite make it to Melissa's BFF's. Oops. (I will take them with us to my parents.)

Yup. I went low class this year. Teachers and friends alike received these little eye sores.

I didn't do much better for my co-workers. Forgot about getting something together for them until, oh, uh, THIS MORNING. So I quickly dug out some CandyCane Cocoa and threw together some cute little labels. If I had more fore-thought I probably would have made them a little cuter. But, here they are. Well, here is one. I gave them out when I got in this morning. It's Friday in a government office. You can't expect people will be here all day now, can you!?!?!?!

I myself will be leaving at my regularly scheduled time. I have to go home, feed my family, pack for the week, wrap presents, clean out the fridge, review my Christmas album scrap supply stash that I am taking with me, finish making a gift for my sister. I would tell you what it is, but she reads this so, sorry Renee, you are going to have to wait. But only until Sunday. It is a Christmas gift that pertains to Christmas, so you will get it when we get there so you can put it up now. But it is turning out really cute. We plan on hitting the road early in the am. I will take my daughters laptop. Hopefully to surf a bit while we are out there. And to manage photos. Oops. I have said too much again. (Now you are really curious aren't you Renee???)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN

My baby is 14 today. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!

I can't believe that time has flown by so quickly. She was just a little girl.

I am so proud of the young lady she has become. She is smart, she is a very loyal friend, she is helpful around the house, she LIKES spending time with me, she is my first born and will always be my introduction to motherhood.

Didn't get tagged, but I'm going to play anyway.

I recently saw on someone's blog where they were tagged to show the fourth photo in their fourth file. Well, I wasn't tagged, but curiousity got the better of me. What is the fourth photo in my fourth file? So, I took a look and was reminded of how really blessed I am.

This is Morgan the day she was born. 16 weeks early. Yes, that is one of those handheld thermometers. (about the size of a paperback book)

I won't go into the story right now. I don't have the time. But, suffice it to say she is a fighter. God gave me this little miracle and I intend to continue to take the best care of her I can. Including staying home with her today. She has a fever and sore throat and her head is stuffy and she is hungry but can't eat and she is bored and she wants to watch a movie and she wants me to make her some tea and she wants me to get her more tissues and she just plain WANTS ME. I can do that. I am here for her every whim today. After all, she is my little miracle. And I am here to take care of her.

It's part of the promise I made to GOD the day she was born.

Christmas Daily Album

I have seen numerous Albums created/being created for December. With a page for each days activities/events. I really LOVE Christmas and initially thought I would make one of these little albums. But I am having a hard time with making a page for everyday. My life, like most of yours, is pretty routine Monday thru Friday. But what is a girl to do. I have already made the album. What will I do with an album that has christmas pages numbered 1 - 25????

I decided (mere minutes ago) that my album will be a listing of 25 Christmas Essentials. I can't see having one of the daily albums every year. I'll post pics when I get some of the pages done.
I hope to start tonight.