Twas the Days After Christmas...

Did you have a great Christmas celebration? We sure did. Christmas Eve started out with last minute shopping with Lil' Cowboy. NOTE: I will never go shopping on Christmas Eve again!!! I chose to do this purely because I figured that this would allow Lil' Cowboy little time to spill the beans on who is secret sibling was. He had better learn how to keep a secret by next year!

I came home to a kitchen buzzing with excitement. There was a lot to do to get ready for our big meal and many hands made the labor more enjoyable.

We also made the above for Christmas morning. They are called Cobblestones. Boo and I happened upon them one time at Panera. We figured that we could come up with a recipe close to it and we did! I even plurged and bought the bigger muffin tins to accomodate the size of these cinnamon rolls on steriods. The dough is the same that you would use for cinnamon rolls but instead of rolling the dough out you piece it and roll it into butter and sugar then place in the tins. Sprinkle some chopped apples, walnuts, and raisins inbetween the layers and you have a Cobblestone. Oh, don't forget the cake crumbles and drizzled frosting on top!

We enjoyed a beautiful service at the local Lutheran church after our Christmas dinner. Then, it was back to the house for our one present (pajamas - the kids got me Nick and Nora Sock Monkey pajamas! Now I have a choice of Sock Monkey or Rubber Ducky pajamas) and the annual watching of "It's a Wonderful Life". Many more tears than normal this year as I reflected on what we just went through with Eric.

My parents bought our family a karaoke machine. When we traveled to Utah with them we enjoyed a night of karaoke at the trailer park we stayed at. The kids loved it and so my parents thought it would be the greatest gift for our family...they know we are a bunch of hams! Goose is great at the lyrics but lacks in the tune department while Boo loves the old classic favorites. Daisy crooned "You Light Up My Life" like every young girl of the '70s did.

All of the siblings getting ready to pass their gifts to the one they bought for. Let me see if I can get this straight: Boo got Goose a World War II book, Goose got Miss M a couple of shirts, Miss M got Brown Sugar a cleaning set, Daisy got Boo a sewing box, Lil' Cowboy got Daisy a craft box and some footless leggings, and Brown Sugar bought Joe (with mom's help) a lap tray. Whew!

One of the crafts that I finally finished was our Jesse tree. The picture below just does not do it justice. We bought a small fake tree and adorned it with miniature white lights, small glass balls, and the Jesse tree ornaments. Next year we will be able to add an ornament each day and tell the story of Jesse's tree.

Hey, did you notice that I am posting pictures? Well, they are taken with my gift from my husband. He bought me (before he went into the hospital) a new camera. It is a small, red Coolpix Nikon. Always ready for a great shot and for my hands only. It's not that I don't like to share but rather that I find it difficult to get my hands on the family camera. It is usually with Eric on work days or in the hands of one of the kids. By the time I get to it the battery is dead or the card is full. Now I have the ability to go take a shot and add it to my computer right away. And, to top it off it is red which is my favorite color. Next to the Sock Monkey pajamas it is the best gift ever!

So, I had every intention to stay home the day after Christmas but I got this bug in me to go see if I could find a great deal. After years of day-after-Christmas shopping I have figured out how to wiggle my way through the masses. The key? Take a kid or two with you so that they can stay with the shopping cart while you dart in and out of each jam packed aisle. Even better....train a kid or two to know what you like. That way they can work the outskirts of the aisles while you battle the middle.

The big buy this year was wrapping paper. I found the cutest polka dot paper and striped paper that matched. And, the colors are appropriate for birthdays also. I ended up buying twelve rolls at $1.50 each. What a deal! "But, twelve rolls?" you say. "Why would you buy twelve rolls?" We don't have extra packages to wrap rather I have found that if I really like something and it is a good deal I had better get a lot of it to last a while. This will last us a couple of years, the colors are right for me, and the price was great!

Now my days are filled with cleaning up the after math of Christmas. This is my favorite week to get some deep cleaning done....my husband is cringing right now. I love to dejunk! It's time to go through the clothes, the closets, the junk drawers, and laundry room. Ooooh the feeling of de-cluttering...there's nothing like it.

Have a wonderful New Year's Day celebration. We will be spending both New Year's Eve and day with close friends. And, then Eric celebrates his 41st b-day on the 4th! Lots of celebrating going on around here. Have a safe and happy holiday!

~Lazyd