Merry Christmas!

L&L

Loves:

--Doing the advent calendar every morning with Emerson. She gets so excited to open up the little tin!

--Listening to Emerson attempt to sing Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, and assorted other holiday tunes.

--How excited Em is when she sees Christmas lights as we drive home at night.

--That my friend, Jen, sent me an awesome link to get a personalized video message from Santa emailed to Em...she flipped! (and it was free...yahoo!)

--That our babe is finally feeling better today after a week & a half of the yuckies (and Keith and I can finally resume normal work schedules!)

--How awesome the upstairs turned out after the remodeling project that would not die.

--That we get some time off work for the holidays...can't wait for a break!

--That I work with a truly great bunch of people, whom I really enjoy!

--That we scored a sitter and get to attend a party this weekend sans toddler!

--How sweetly Emerson told me today, "Mommy, I love you so much!". Made my heart sing.

Loathes:

--Ridiculous dumb-ass drivers who are maniacs in the parking lots this time of year. Seriously people!

--How we have no back up if Emmy gets sick, and how far away our families are!

--That I woke up with what looked like pink-eye this morning...oh, thank you, daycare germs!

--That my Mom isn't able to come down for a holiday visit...the cooking class together will have to wait. Boo!

--How totally addicted to the movie, "Annie", our child has become. Although it is adorable when she walks around singing, "You're never fully dressed, UGH, you're never fully dressed, UGH, you're never fully dressed without a smile!"

--How I walk around all day with Annie songs rattling around my brain.

--That we couldn't get a real Christmas tree this year...the little 3 foot fake one just isn't cutting it for me!

--That there are seriously not enough hours in the day to get things done around here. I am contemplating taking a week off in January just to paint, clean, sort, and shop for furniture.

Sleepy Baby

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Santa: Have you been a good girl this year?

Em: Yes!

S: Do you know what you'd like for Christmas?

E: Presents.

S: What kind of presents?

E: Red presents.

S: Anything else?

E: Candy necklaces.

S: I'll do my best.

Decorating & Disney on Ice

Holiday Time

We've been busy little beavers around here, and trying to squeeze in some holiday preparations in our "free time". Last weekend, Emmy and I did some cookie baking. We did M&M shortbread cookies, as well as Peanut Butter Blossoms...Em thought it was so cool to push the Hershey's Kiss in the middle! Keith hung the Christmas lights on the front porch, and Em was delighted to see the twinkling lights as we pulled into the driveway Monday evening. We've been doing an advent calendar to count down to Christmas. I made it last year, and it's got a bunch of little metal tins velcro-ed to a big board. Emmy either finds a candy treat inside, or a fun holiday activity. Saturday's activity was attending the Hillsborough Christmas Parade. It was a rainy morning, but it tapered to a light mist by parade time. It was still bitter cold (a brisk 35 degrees, with blowing winds!). Em insisted on taking a backpack to stash all the candy she was planning to scoop up. She was successful in her candy-finding endeavors, and was totally thrilled to see Santa & Mrs. Claus in a horse-drawn carriage at the end of the parade. She kept saying, "I LOVE SANTA!" all the way back to the car. Little does she know we've made reservations for this Sunday morning at the Carolina Inn for a breakfast with Santa. They also have a gingerbread decorating contest going on (super fancy houses, I'm sure!!), so we'll be walking around the Inn checking out the entries. We're planning to put up a simple tree this weekend, and the interior decorations will be going up as well. Keith and Em made paper snowflakes and cottonball adorned snowmen tonight as I was making dinner. They hung their creations on the windows to winterize the joint.

I'm in the midst of reorganizing all of the framed photos in our home...we've repainted the hallway upstairs, as well as the stairway. I've purchased a bunch of matching black frames, and think they'll look great over the stairs!

I'm organizing a Call Back Day at work for Friday, and need to cook a large crockpot of meatballs on Thursday evening for our holiday party...this week is flying by quickly!

Hope your holiday prep is going well, and you're able to enjoy some of the festivities, rather than sprinting through them!!