Friday, December 26, 2008

Whew! Another Christmas is behind us. We actually had a wonderful Christmas, made complete by having a White Christmas as well! We had my cousin and her husband, my brother and his family, and my mom over for Christmas Eve dinner. All evening long the kids were tracking Santa on the internet, so it was fairly easy to get Adam to bed early. It is a tradition of ours to look for Santa's sleigh in the sky on Christmas Eve after dinner, but since it was so cloudy we weren't able to see him, although Adam thought he saw a light below the clouds. We put out magic reindeer food to make it easier for the reindeer to spot our house.
Traditional Christmas Eve dinner - Mexican food
Necessities for a college-bound senior!
Can't forget the carrots for the reindeer - this year Santa got eggnog
After reading " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas" the kids all piled into one bed
Adam was the earliest riser on Christmas morning - 3:30 am!!! He was so excited about Christmas, which of course makes it all the more fun for us parents.


Clay tries out the WII Fit
We spent Christmas Day as we know how best to spend it - enjoying family and being grateful for all we have. We remember the reason for the season, and know how blessed we are to be able to have days like this.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

What a week! And am I ready for Christmas? Well, mentally I'm so ready, but every time I think I'm ready I remember another gift I need, or present to wrap, or another thing to add to the list, or....well, you get the picture.
Mornday morning was a very slow drive to work. The good part about snow is - the snow! But the down side to all the snow is driving in it. This is what it looked like on my way to work Monday morning:

Thursday in Adam's class they had sundaes and watched cartoons. I got to go in a help out. Whew, that is a busy class. When I think of sundaes I think of ice cream, hot fudge, nuts, whipped cream, all the classic items. These kids had brought really fun things for their toppings: sour balls, gummy worms, peanut m&m's, to name a few. They had a great time, and with all that sugar the kids had, it was enough for me to want to take a nap when I got home! It's so cool when the kids start to know me a little better. One girl even drew me a picture - so sweet.


This morning we went to our church's Christmas breakfast. 8:30 is a little early for me on Saturday. We brought a chili relleno casserole. It's very tasty and really easy to make.


CHILI RELLENO CASSEROLE
2 (7 oz.) cans whole green chile peppers, drained (I used 1 27-oz. can
8 oz. Montery Jack cheese, shredded
8 oz. Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 eggs, beaten
1 (5 oz.) can evaporated milk
2 T. flour
1/2 cup milk
1, Preheat oven to 350 degrees (I had to turned mine up to 375). Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Lay half of the chilies evenly in bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle with half of the jack and cheddar cheeses, and cover with remaining chilies. In a bowl, mix together the egg, milk and flour and pour over the top of the chilies.
3. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with remaining cheeses and bake another 15 minutes or until done.
Enjoy!

Erin brought her knitting along to the breakfast to try to finish a Christmas gift.
Syd snuck some chocolate while watching the program.

A special guest - Santa!
Tonight Clay and I went to a Christmas party. I must admit, I am really tired right now, and I have caught quite a few typos in this post, so I am trying to make an excuse for the ones that I won't see before I publish this. Tonight we saw friend's we hadn't seen in some time. The family that had the party used to be neighbors of ours and we have known them for 19 years. This was a fun party. I even remembered to bring my camera and take pictures. We ate lots, and got to open presents for the gift exchange. Too fun. We love you Gayla, Roger, Amber, Haley and Mike! It was a great time.

Their "Blue" Christmas tree. They've been decorating with blue since I can remember.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

It is now 10:15 pm, and everyone is in bed except for me. I even think they are asleep. After a weekend at home it just seems a little quiet. Still working on my Christmas cards. I really think next year I'm just going to buy all of them and not worry about making any. Do you make your own cards? Do you ever wonder what happens to them? After all the time spent on making those cards, do you think they get thrown into the trash with the rest of the cards after the decorations are taken down? I don't think I want to know.

Found this really cool pair of glasses and couldn't pass them up. The store had a couple other pairs but I chose this one. Syd wore them to her Christmas party she attended last night. The down side to these is they don't fit over my own glasses, so I'd have to wear my contacts. At my age I'm more about comfort than fashion, so I guess I'll stick to my own glasses and put these on just for the photo.
It is supposed to snow tonight, the weather man says 4-8 inches. The kids are hoping for snow and really hoping for a snow day or at least a delayed start. I am hoping the snow won't make the roads too bad, as I have to go to work tomorrow. Right now it is snowing just a little, and it is cooooooold.
I need to go to bed. Really. So I will leave you with these two pictures - both of which I am sending out as our Christmas card photo. You can see that it was a little difficult getting all five of us to take a good picture, but we had fun.


Saturday, December 6, 2008

Where were you on Black Friday?

Yes, I did get up early, early, early on Black Friday. Syd and I got up at 3:30 am, got ready, then hit our local coffee shop at 4:00 am for hot cocoa and a muffin, and went to stand in line at Old Navy. All for a MP3 player they were giving away (with a purchase, of course). We stood in line for 45 minutes, and were so proud of the "get-your-free-gift" bracelet we received because we were one of the first 50 people in line and got that cool MP3 player! Actually, I haven't even opened it up yet; I am giving it away as a gift, but ssshhhhh! From there we went to Michaels and stocked up on even more Stuff, and that's with a capital S! Got some baskets to put more yarn stash in. You know, that yarn stash that I promised myself I would never accumulate? Yep, that one. Now we're working on getting our Christmas cards out. This year they come with pictures of the whole family, and you know how it takes time to Photoshop us old people, aka Clay and I in the picture, so it may be a while. Here's fun pictures to keep you occupied until then:
Syd and I at Klunker's, with our hot chocolate, ready to face the morning, uh, I mean the night - about 4:00 a.m. here.

Standing in line at Old Navy. We were the 10th and 11th person in line. It was around 4:15 a.m.
around 4:40 they showed up with coffee and hot chocolate for us. Too bad we already got ours!

Yep, we were in line for the freebie!

We met our friends Lee Ann and Deidre at Old Navy, then went to breakfast at IHOP when we were done with our early morning shopping

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