Analise: Mom, I think it's good now. I've got a little bit in my room...I put some decorations in the living room...we've got the tree and the stockings up now. Yup, it's okay now!
Mind you, she's the one who instigated/created MOST of the decorations around here. I kept trying to pull the "but it's not CHRISTMAS yet, it's still ADVENT...we need to learn to WAIT!" deal, but no go.
I love the tree we ended up getting (just this week!). It was perfect for the tiny dining room (yay, sweeping up needles instead of vacuuming them is so much easier!) and it smelled up the whole house so nicely. We couldn't find our star (another panic attack from Weazy) but Mom brought over an angel so we're good now (Santa can come...whew!).
Today, my in-laws came over (I figured it might be kind of nice for them to have Christmas day off to relax before my MIL has to go back to work the next day) today for Christmas. Niklaus shared my pistachios (I didn't even know he liked those things until today) and bonded with my father-in-law while shelling them with him.
We all got what I consider the BEST PRESENTS EVER from them. Woohoo! I can't wait to make use of them (Mari's was attached to a little, stuffed penguin that she loved, so I had to post that picture even though it's a little blurry) My sis-in-law also sent one of those (she never forgets us, she's so sweet), a funny, musical/mechanical cat that sings "Santa Baby" (the girls love that song and you should have seen them light up and look at each other when it started singing!), and also a nice box of pears from Harry & David. YUM! My MIL told me that we're supposed to wait 4 days to eat them but I couldn't resist and just had one. It was perfect...juicy and sweet and still just a tiny bit crisp. Aaaaahhhhhh.
It was a very nice day considering the raging snowstorm outside our windows. We all got very tired after eating that turkey and yummy deserts so Grandma and Grandpa went home shortly after we ate. Grandpa feels much better and seems to pretty much be back to his old self. My MIL impressed the kids with her string of Christmas light-y necklace that she gave it to Trina. I'll have to get a pic of that thing, it's awesome!
Last minute trees are some of the best. The kids did all the decorating (they are getting to be pros!). I got a clear, plastic "table cloth" (walmart craft section) and covered a nice table cloth. In between we put all of the Christmas card pictures we got from everyone so we can "have dinner" with them. It was a fun way to display them and it keeps me and the kids motivated to clean off the table right away after we mess it up with crafts/food!
Weazy is all ready for Santa.
All we need now are the cookies!
