Catching up

That's what life seems to be all about right now- catching up. Catching up on bills, catching up on time, catching up with my kid, catching up on my Christmas gifts. That last one may be completely hopeless, but I just keep plugging along blindly denying that I only have maybe a handful of days before I have to start shipping things out. Eeek!

And of course, instead of working on anything, I'm simply sitting here blogging. But I've neglected the blog for a while and wanted to update a few things that have been going on, just for the sake of helping me keep the days straight, if nothing else.

After getting a grumpy start to the holiday season, I'm finally starting to find some Christmas spirit in me somewhere. We put up our tree this weekend, and for the first time since we became a family, it truly did turn into a family event. Hubby has never taken part in the trimming of the tree hanging of stockings, but this year he attacked it with full gusto. So much so that all I had to do was sit and untangle ornament hooks while he and J took care of the rest.



The obligatory under the tree shot.

We bought a new tree this year after somehow losing the stand to the old one last year, which made the fiberoptics and the lights not work, and also left the entire tree in a state of tumbledom. Yes, that's a word in my world. :) I love this new one. It's tall and slim, which works well in our cramped space, and is full and lovely and prelit, which saves me a huge headache, and probably is part of the reason hubby decided to join us this year. Good tree.

J even slept under it that first night. Sigh.


Another thing that makes me smile about the holidays is the return of this ugly old guy.

Meet Evil Santa, so named because when the lights flash they cast creepy shadows on Santa's face and it looks like his eyebrows are wagging up and down. Evil Santa has adorned the top of my parents tree for my entire life, and he grew quite endearing in our late teen/early adult years. Last year, with the knowledge that it would be the last year that we all gathered around the same tree, I tracked down Evil Santa's for both myself and my sister, and now we all have our own. I even love the fact that mine has a few burned out bulbs. Makes him all the more authentic.

There's so much more I could be filling you in on, but right now J is begging me to go outside and play in the yard, and it's so gorgeous out there that I can't possibly resist.

Christmas Recap

With the final hours of the year trickling by, I figured I had better try and squeeze in the Christmas recap. And holy crap! What in incredible Christmas we all had!

Of course, Santa and the family was more than generous with the gifting to the J-man. Between the Hot Wheels and the Planet Heroes and the Legos and the puzzles, my house is starting to look more like a Toys R Us research lab.

We did Christmas morning here at home, opening gifts from family out of state, and of course, reveling in the spoils of Santa. J was a little upset that Santa only nibbled at the humongous plate of cookies that he and Steven decorated together, but he got over it quickly as he dove into the goodies left under the tree.

He got all sorts of cool stuff, including this really neat Black and Decker drill and flashlight set with a battery pack that slides off-- Just like Dada's tools!

And here's the picture proving that he's way too familiar with the world of vet med:


Yes, he IS looking in the dog's ears with the flashlight. The picture I don't have to share with you is the one of him using the drill to "clean" the poor dog's ears. And sweet Kelli- she just stands there and takes it. She's perfectly content so long as someone's touching her.

After we opened all of our gifts at home, we packed ourselves in the car and headed over to my parent's house for round two where J was, once again, thoroughly spoiled. The whole time, I sat wondering where in the world all of these new toys were going to go! Some of the hits of the day (aside from the Planet Heroes, which he lusted after for months), were his Smart Cycle, and a giant flatbed Tonka truck complete with a battery operated bulldozer. The thing is about 3 feet long, and super cool.

He played so hard and for so long that around 5 pm, he actually fell asleep standing up. Yeah, I know, I thought that was only something done in cartoons, too. But sure enough, he did, standing right in the middle of the back porch, and when he did, he crashed, hitting his head on the table on the way down, and he slept until nearly 10.
Can you see the bump on his forehead?


The day was full of excellent goodies, and the kids were overjoyed and surprised by everything, but the biggest surprise of the day was mine. You see, when making my Christmas wish list this year, I included such useful things as a new set of headphones (Thanks Mom! They're great!), a new travel coffee mug to keep my car from having the aroma of week old spillage (thanks Jess. It's the best one I've ever used, right down to the clip that holds it to my purse handle!), a subscription to Interweave Knits (which I also got, thanks to Mom), and various other little stuff that I really needed and wanted, and never would have bought for myself. But at the end of the list, and more as a joke than anything else, I asked for a spinning wheel.

Yeah, I know, that's pretty steep, and more than I would ever want or expect anyone to spend, ever. I should have known that if it was on the list, and Dad had even a glimpse of it, it'd end up under the tree. But still, it took my breath away as the paper was torn from the box, revealing this:



Oh my goodness! It is the most lovely and wonderful thing ever, and I'm completely in love!

Of course, before I could play with it, I had to finish it and assemble it, and that my friends, is another post entirely.

You know, my SIL got one, too. She received hers almost a month ago, and how she managed to not spill it to me in all that time amazes me. She's a stronger woman than I!

I'll leave you now with just some of my favorite shots from the holiday.





Happy New Year everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thought I'd share some silly Thanksgiving vet humor with you. Don't worry- no animals were harmed in the process. :)




(sorry for the weird picture, Tiffany!)

Hope you all have a great day today, and find much in your lives to be thankful for. We are all so truly blessed.