A Belated Merry Christmas

Our Christmas was wonderful! It was crazy busy, hectic as anything, but the kids had a fabulous time, and we all got to enjoy time with family and friends.

I was hoping to make a pettiskirt for Ellie's Christmas present, but my machine and ruffler decided not to cooperate, so I now have miles of chiffon cut into strips, just waiting on me to find a way to ruffle it lol! Unfortunately, that left us shopping last second. Which, actually, wasn't so bad. I knew Ellie had been wanting a Disney Princess Talking Kitchen, and we found them in huge supply, on sale, and with an offer for an additional free Disney Princess Makeup Kit with the purchase =D Talk about a great deal! All the rest of the the kiddos' gifts were already bought, and I was just waiting on gifts for the grandparents to be delivered.

We did a ton of baking - I made a triple batch of cheese straws, which wasn't a bad idea in itself, but the idea to use a cookie press handed down from my great uncle probably wasn't a great choice. Man, those things are hard to use! Not *too* bad for making actual cookies, but for extruding long strips of cheese straw dough, it was HARD!!! Ouch - Audrey and I had blisters from it! Thankfully, Adron bailed us out for the last 2 sheets lol! Then, I made a batch of Millionaire cookies from a recipe I'd never used before. I wasn't thinking about the amounts used in the original recipe, and opted to double it. Yeah, that was silly! I think the original recipe was about a quadruple batch to start with!!! EEEEKKKKKK! We made 16 dozen cookies - and, man, were they good! Then, we were going to make gingerbread houses. However, I couldn't find my icing bag. I went to Hobby Lobby the morning of the 23rd, and got everything I needed, with the minor exception of boxes to wrap gifts. No problem. Came home and heated up some leftovers, and when I pulled out a plate to put them on, it dropped. I, brilliantly, tried to catch it, but it shattered when it hit the counter. That never happens! It would have been fine, except for the piece that hit my hand and left a cut that was about 1/2" long, and to the bone. Right on top of the bottom knuckle of my pinkie finger. No chance of that cut staying together and healing right. So, we were off to the Urgent Care center for a little dermabond. No biggie, but quite painful! I tried making graham cracker houses, but the graham crackers I had picked up were squares, not the double sheets I needed. Arggh! I gave up on those, and I think I might try to make them with the kids in the next few days.

Despite slicing my hand open, Tuesday was a fabulous day! My oldest sister came up to visit with her two gorgeous little ones, and my baby sister took me with her to see the Transiberian Orchestra! It was a fabulous show, and our seats were amazing! I had a great time, and think that we're going to try to go again next year lol! We wrapped presents after I got home, and went to bed a little late...

Wendesday was a bit hectic - spent most of the day at Mimi and PopPops doing the family Christmas thing, then we went home so I could get a nap before church. That was wonderful! After church, we came home, put the kiddos to bed, and got to kick back and relax! We're always up really late on Christmas Eve, putting together any gifts that need assembly and wrapping presents. Since that had all been done the night before, we got to just hang out and enjoy the evening :o)

We got up Christmas morning, and Deb came over to open presents with us and eat breakfast. After we ate, Deb and I fell asleep while Adron and the kids played Mario Cart lol! Then we headed out to Adron's parents' house. That was fun, too, and they spoiled all of us so much! After that was dinner at his aunt's house, then back home. I was so worn out that I slept the whole way home! Audrey loaned me her Twilight books, and I managed to read the 1st one before bedtime on Christmas day.

Yesterday, I read New Moon, and all but the last 100 pages of Eclipse. Audrey took Breaking Dawn with her, so I have to wait till she gets home to read it lol! I am really tempted to read the 1st 3 books again, too. I *never* re-read books, but these are just so good! I can't believe I sat there and cried most of the way through New Moon!!! Ah well, it was good, and I didn't have any mascara on, and no one but Adron and the kids to see me crying lol!

Today has been extraordinarily lazy, and nice lol! I've not done a thing, and Adron is even cooking dinner again! I'm sure tomorrow will be busier, as, at the very least, I have church in the morning.

I'll be back to post Christmas pictures once I have a chance to do a little editing (red eye removal, mostly...) and resizing for the web.... Might be next week before I make it that far, but I've got some uploaded to my Flickr and Facebook right now. Feel free to friend request me on Facebook - I update that much more frequently than I ever blog!