whatever

happy new year

we are staying home and doing nothing much this new year's eve.

i am packing for a quick girls-only-getaway for diana's 40th.

craig and scott are watching football.

chicken enchiladas are in the oven.

hope your night is safe, fun and just what you want.

i hope i am still awake when the ball drops!

maybe a midnight bath?  

happy new year!

thanks for reading this life journal of mine this year.

i love all the comments and new friends i have made.

thank you for all the support and encouragement in the previous post.

please share if you haven't yet.

i have read all of them and think they are all so good!

so many great ideas that all of us could incorporate into our family christmas'.

christmas morning

i love christmas morning.

i prefer the very relaxed ones...with no where to go for the whole day.

but this one was good too.

we gathered in the living room this year.

i hid their "stockings" so they wouldn't peek in to them before we were ready.

we don't put anything in the actual stockings because i think they'd fall off the mantle.

so i just use gift bags or baskets.

each was filled with candy, socks, a notebook, thank you cards and chapstick.

then different things for each personality.

like eyeball glasses.

or a PSP case.

or make-up.

on christmas eve they each got new pajamas....like everyone seems to do.  

but what a fun tradition!  i love new pj's.

on christmas morning they get to open a family gift.

it's something for everyone.

this year it was a sled, dvd's and a portable DVD player for the car (to replace our broken one)

last year we started giving only ONE gift.

i was nervous about how it would go but it was perfect.

so we stuck with it.

 

it is so fun to see their eyes light up.

and be so excited about their gift.

one of them was not happy.

i will let you decide who that was....

i just ignored it as best i could.  

someday i hope that person will feel very embarrassed about their behavior.

but everyone else was so happy.

and we were too.

craig made us a yummy breakfast.

i had my coffee.

and my gift to play with....a 50mm f1.8 lens.

love it already.

what do you do for your family for gifts?

how do you keep the consumption to a minimum?

what would you do if someone was very upset about their gift?

i would love to hear your thoughts.

next year i want to work in some way of them giving gifts to each other.

handmade or with their own money or an allowance or something?

i am glad i have a year to think about it.

family time

we have had lots of family here the past week.

lots and lots.

craig's sisters and their families came.

my sister and her family was here.

my parents, craig's mom, my grandmothers, 

craig's uncle and aunt and cousins.

LOTS of family.

and so much food.

ugh.

exercise is in my future....no matter how hard i fight it.

i will have to pay for this christmas.

craig's mom has a december birthday.

we put 64 (or was it 63?) candles on her cake.

and she blew them all out in one breath.

impressive.

 

the duerksen grandkids.

and the other duerksen grandkids.

the ranney grandkids.

with one trying to escape....

 

 

my mom made excellent cosmopolitans.  

i tried quite a few to make sure they were all good.

it was fun.

really......it was.

everyone is home now...by plane and by car.

the parties are over.

we have another week yet to relax before the kids go back to school.

it's a really long break this year.

some of my kids went home to grandmas too.  

thanks mom.

i think i can actually catch up on things now.

i am on hour 6 of laundry.....and i am making a serious dent. 

i am so grateful for all the family time we had.

grateful to have family we love and who love us back.

thankful for forgiveness of the past.

thankful for unconditional love.

grateful for all the helpfulness from our mothers and grandmothers.

i feel blessed today.