Holiday preparations

Gosh, I just haven't been in the mood to blog lately. :o\

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was nervous, having that many of my family members all confined to one house, but everyone got along and Nanny didn't piss anyone off. I spent some good quality time with my little cousins, which was amusing. They make me feel old... they're teenagers. LOL

Andrew did end up being off yesterday after all, so it was a busy, but really great day. I went to Walgreens first thing in the morning and bought 16 Webkinz toys. They were $3.50 each, regular about $12. You just can't beat that. We're going to be swimming in Webkinz. It's cool though - I really like playing Webkinz too, so it just gives Chloe and I something to do together.

After that I came home and we decorated the house for Christmas. Chloe and Andrew went out and bought a fake tree this year. We're over the needing a real tree thing, thankfully. All the garlands and the decorations are out, the tree is decorated. I love it. Christmas makes me happy. The lights outside will go up on Sunday - I let Andrew off the hook since it was cold and wet outside yesterday. I'm trying not to be too much of a slave driver. LOL

After decorating we all got dressed up and went to the Nutcracker. Ah, I love the Nutcracker. It was beautiful, so well choreographed and just... oh, it was perfect. Chloe loved it. Her little eyes lit up over and over as things happened. She was almost asleep by the end, but still pouted because it was over. She's so funny. And I suck, I didn't take one stinkin' picture of her in her pretty dress. I'll have to do that soon.

Keeping the Christmas tree not only decorated, but still standing, is going to be a battle this year between the baby, the cat, and the dog. We have a bunch of little apple ornaments that were my mom's years ago. The baby keeps stealing them off the tree and trying to eat them. It's rather cute. The cat insists on sleeping under the tree, and the baby keeps trying to get under there with him. And Isabel's tail, mind of it's own that it has, keeps flinging ornaments this way and that.

I've got perfect gifts for everyone on my list this year, and that pleases me. A couple ideas to share: my parents got a digital photo frame a year or two ago. It's really nice, but they just stick memory cards into it and sometimes there aren't a lot of great pictures on it. I had Andrew pick up a memory card ($12-ish) and I'm going to load it with pictures. My goal is to find a way to steal some old photos from their house as well and scan them and put those on the card. I think it will please them, my mother especially, to have photos displayed of when we kids were little, when Benny was still alive, etc. And in general, if you're looking for a great gift, those digital photo frames are a good one.

Chloe's getting a ton of cool stuff. I'm just so excited for her to open her presents. She's gonna love them. :o) I hate consumerism, but man I love shopping for my kid.

All around though, except for one or two things for Andrew, I'm done shopping for Christmas, and I'm done decorating. Now I just get to sit back, relax, bake some cookies, and maybe plan a holiday cocktail party. I'm looking forward to this holiday season, tremendously!