Merry Christmas Dec 2009

First off, I want to wish everyone out there a Very Merry Christmas! I can't believe that it's here already!!! Where in the world did the year go???

I have an extra special treat for you guys for Christmas!!! I made up some more WordArt Bundles!!! 8 Christmas WordArt Packs in a bundle, all for a low price of $5.00. That's $0.625 cents per pack, or $0.15 per single WordArt. Now really, you can't beat that, right? $0.15 a piece? I'm practically giving it away - hehehe. Anyway, I have 3 different packs to choose from. SO, Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas 1 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

Christmas 2 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

Christmas 3 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

You know, I'm either running around like a chicken with her head cut off, or sick. Those are my two kinds of days. Have you noticed? ROFL! One of these days, I'll have a "not much happened" day. One of these days. It's bound to happen, right?

Well, Christmas Eve was a "chicken" day - LOL! I went to bed at around midnight the night before, and decided to sleep in my clothes (bra too) so that when I got up at 6:45am in order to leave the house at 7:00am to go to Target with Andrea to buy gift exchange presents for our families that it would be easier to get up and go. Dang, holy run on sentence, eh? LMBO!

Anyway, I woke up when my alarm went off, texted Andrea, brushed my teeth, and out the door we went. We looked around the dollar section for a while, and found cheap gifts for everyone. Let me see if I can remember what we got for people. Andrea got a GIANT magnet of the letter R (for Reay), I got a mini pot with "Forget-Me-Not" flowers, Captain America got a calendar of Italy, Jacob got US State Flash Cards, Sam got National Geographic flash cards, Tom got multiplication flash cards, Emeline got 4 different colors of mini highlighters, Ben got a dry erase board for practicing your letters, Joe got a dry erase board of the Incredibles, Jim got a wooden train, and Luke got a board book. Pfew! That's a lot of people. SO, if you go to Target, you can see what we got - LOL!

Next, we went looking for a Birthday Present for Kim. We'd just found out that it was her birthday the night before from Facebook! I had the candles for Christmas, but Andrea needed something. It would be a combo b-day/Christmas gift. Even though I always hated it when people did that to me when I was growing up - LOL! Now I understand - hehehe.

The movie section had a BUNCH of cheap older movies. Andrea got a Civil War collection for Captain America for $4, and I got him one for his stocking for $7. I also found the DVD collection of Daybreak, a really cool 12 episode series that was on CBS a while back. About a guy that has to repeat the same day (think Groundhog day) over and over. It was pretty good. It was only $4.

Next, we headed to Walmart. I'd mentioned to Andrea about this fake "Scensy" candle warmer thing at Walmart the other day. And that Captain America said that I should get it for myself for Christmas, because I had nothing under the tree. Which is true. I was just planning on getting money. Borning, I know :) Anyway, she said that she wanted to get it for me for Christmas. Sigh. ANDREA, you don't need to buy me things for Christmas - LOL!

Anyway, we headed to Walmart. We got CoolWhip for the pumpkin pie, cherry pie filling for the pie for Christmas, undershirt for Eme, and black socks for Joe/Jim, walnuts for something that I wanted to bake (can't remember now what it was - LOL!), and a few other things. Andrea got me a "warmer", and I picked out a few of the scents that I liked. And I picked out a few scents that she liked to give to her :)

When we were in the small appliance isle, she was debating getting a popcorn popper, and decided to wait. I told her that I almost bought one the day before, and she said that she wanted to buy me one - ROFL! SO, I said let Santa buy me the Scensy, and she could get me the popper. Silly Andrea. If you wanna spend money on me, I'm not gonna stop you - LOL!

I got some popping corn to use in it, and am excited to use it :) I just LOVE making homemade popcorn (and caramel corn). We stopped at McDonalds inside Walmart and had Breakfast Sausage Burritos, then headed home.

I wrapped up Kims present and card, and Andrea did the same at home, and we quickly drove it over to Kims house, dropped it off, and came back home. My family was finally all awake, and happy to see me.

Captain America finished up Breakfast, and we sat down to open presents from me. But first, we had the talk about WHY we do presents on Christmas. They all understood that Christmas was about Jesus, and vaguely understood the concept of Christmas is about showing love. We further explained that Heavenly Father gave us a precious gift, because He loved us SO much. He gave us the gift of his Son, and in turn, His Son gave us the gift of His life. Gifts given in love. That's what we do when we give gifts at Christmas time. We're trying to be like them.

We also talked about how gifts from the heart are the best, and that gifts with a lot of thought are even better. The gift of time is the best gift of all. We talked about how we should treat each other, and how you should act when you receive a gift. Hopefully some of that sunk in - LOL!

So, it was on to present opening. Jim and Joe went first, and they absolutely loved the set. Those cars were definitely a great idea :) Eme liked her Zhu Zhu pet, and played with it ALL day long, until the batteries wore out - LOL! Tom thought his car was awesome, and Jake was excited about the crystals. All in all, I did good, I think. Everyone was happy :)

I sat down for a while and made a "brag book" for my mom, aunt, and grandma for Christmas. I should have done it LONG ago, but I finally got around to it. I used the photos from Christmas Eve morning, so at least it was recent, right? LOL! I uploaded them to the photo department of my mom's local grocery store, and told her she could pick them up after work. That's SO handy.

I used a buttload of my own WordArts, and Happy Feet Brag Book by Ziggle Designs and Krystal Hartley. I think it's FABULOUS! You can buy it HERE.












At 2pm, Captain America, Andrea, and I headed out to the hospital to visit one of the sisters that Andrea and I Visit Teach. She'd fallen and broker her hip, and had had surgery earlier that day. Poor thing! What a way to spend Christmas Eve :( Andrea got a call from Ryan from Iraq while we were driving there, and ended up chatting with him the whole time. Such is army wife life. You drop it all when your man calls, and chat. Wherever and whenever that may be.

Captain America and I had a nice chat with Sister Montoya, and headed back toward post. We swung by Sonic on the way and got Happy Hour drinks. Diet Coke for Captain America, Diet Dr. Pepper for Andrea, and Diet Lemonade for me. They actually had 2 Diet/Caffeine free choices for me to choose from. I'm definitely remembering that one :) Score it!

We dropped Andrea off at home, but sat in the car and chatted for about 30 minutes before she went inside. She's SO much fun :) hehehe. When we got back home, the Birds (from church) were there dropping off goodies at our house. Don't you just LOVE Christmas time? People dropping off sweets at your door. What a great time of the year - LOL!

Jake said that a package had come while we were out. I went in my room, and it was from my sister. Gifts for the kids. THANKS Madi! You're SO sweet. I wrapped them right away, and put them under the tree. The more that I do in the moment, the less I have to do late Christmas Eve night, right?

I then started cooking. We were supposed to be a Andreas at 5:00pm for Dinner. Yeah, we were gonna be late. I texted her and asked if we could do 5:30 instead. I made Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (FABULOUS!), rice crispy treats with chocolate on top, fruit salad, pistachio pie, and something else, it seems like. I can't remember now. Anyway, it took FOREVER, just to make those few things. I think I was still worn out from Thanksgiving - LOL!

Captain America took Jim and Joe and headed to Lowes/Big Lots to pick up a few things. Lowes had the supplies to fix my broken table, and Big Lots had Hot Wheels. Because life will NOT go on without Hot Wheels, you know. Seriously....

We got to Andreas house about 15 minutes before Captain America/Jim/Joe, and helped Andrea get everything situated. She'd made crock pot chicken, and cuscus, and rolls, and a salad, and "pink stuff", and brownies, and a pineapple upside down cake, and pumpkin pie. OMGosh, we had SO much food. And it was ALL so good. I especially loved the cuscus. I'm gonna have to get some of that :) I liked it a lot ;)

We watched "A Christmas Story" (1983) on TBS, and listened to Captain America laugh hysterically. Andrea had never seen it before, and Captain America just LOVES that movie. It IS pretty funny, you know :) LOL!

Before we came back home, we had the present exchange. Andrea also gave me a set of Christmas dishes that she'd had for a while. I told her a few months ago that I've always wanted a set of Christmas dishes, and never had any. She's so sweet. I felt bad taking her dishes, but she assured me that she had got them quite a while back, and had never used them. She wanted me to have them. Thanks, hon! You're the bESTEST!!!

Captain America is still working on her prensent from me. I wanted him to make me a bigger earring/jewelry holder, and I told him to make one for her too. SO, once it's done, she'll get her present from me. And the fake Scensy stuff. I'll give it to her on Christmas Day.

We helped to clean up, and gathered up the food, and headed home. I'd printed out a Christmas program, but we didn't get around to using it. Maybe on Christmas Day. Sigh. That's 2 years now, that I've printed out/planned a Christmas program, and it hasn't happened. I hope it happens. I love sining Christmas songs and hearing the Christmas story. Although it is quite crazy with 11 people (8 kids) in the house :)

So here it is, almost 10pm. Kids are all in bed. Captain America is working on fixing my dining room table. I'm blogging. I still have to design a freebee, post it, and then wrap. I've got a lot done, but there's still more. Then I have to "help" Santa put stuff out. Sigh. I'm tired. I wonder if I can get it all done by midnight. I sure hope my kids are patient in the morning. I'll have to tell them to go and put on a movie while Mom and Dad sleep......

Here's a fun Christmas Freebee for y'all! Hope you like it :) Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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