Are...you...ready?

It's almost here. Or should I say, It's almost over. This year I got all my shopping done early. Did all my wrapping early. Tried to do all my baking this weekend. (More on that...) So you would think the last couple weeks before Christmas would be stress free, right? Well, there's that whole work thing. Up until yesterday, it was pretty smooth sailing. Not really any grumpy scrooges. But yesterday was different. I think people are starting to panic. And I'm sure I pissed a few people off. Coworkers and customers. Tis the season. That's what you get for waiting until 3 days before Christmas to do your shopping.

I did some of my baking at my mom's house on Saturday after the slumber party. (See previous post.) Then I tried to finish my cookie baking at my house on Sunday. Well, the stove didn't want to cooperate. Either I'm getting a new stove soon (I would LOVE a ceramic cooktop stove) or this one needs to be fixed. In the middle of trying to cook something, the oven will automatically turn off on it's own and lock as if it's going into self-cleaning mode. It's a little annoying when you're trying to bake cookies for firemen. Sorry again, Jay. I'm not sure if it's a short in the electical panel or what. So if you have any advice, do share.

I hope everyone has a very joyous and blessed Christmas! Be safe.

Peppermints and Pancakes

Starting last year, us girls have made it an annual tradition to make a gingerbread house for Christmas. This year, we decided to make it a slumber party. I must say that sleeping on a futon is about as enjoyable as having my wisdom teeth pulled. Here are a few pics.

Getting ready to do some damage to the house.

Making things perfect.

Finishing touches.

All done.

Time for the slumber party!

Pancakes in the morning.

No need to brush my hair, it's pancake time!

Does 'Xmas' offend you?

The 'X' is actually the descendant of the Greek equivalent of 'Ch', as in 'Christos' which means "Christ." But today's society has implied that X means to X-out or remove. And so Christ is removed by removing the X. The truth is, the letter X has stood for Christ since at least 1100 A. D. The "Xmas" was first cited in 1551. Eric Partridge, word scholar, says that the scholarly abbreviation for "Christianity" is "Xianity."

History lesson for the day...

You better watch out, you better not cry...

Have you been good? I asked Santa for a Pampered Chef food chopper and world peace.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Well, I figured that if all the Christmas presents are bought...and they are all wrapped...we might as well get the tree up so that we have somewhere to put them. So Jon dragged the tree up from the basement and proceded to...ahem...fluff.

After the tree was put together and standing tall, we decided that we might have to get a new tree this year when they go on clearance at work. It's rather skimpy and vertically challenged. We put on a little Christmas music for motivation and lit a cozy, cracklin' fire. (We popped in a realistic fireplace DVD.)With the roar of the fire and the festive holiday tunes in the background, we got the lights and decorations on the old tannenbaum.




I got to say, once the lights and decorations are strategically placed on the tree, it looks pretty good. And especially with all the presents underneath. Sadly, there aren't any presents under there for me. Jon usually waits till the last minute to wrap my presents. Now that the tree is up, we thought maybe we should put up a few more decorations. So I got out my favorite grape vine snowman and our fiber optic village. I would love to get some lights out on the house, but it happens to be 23 degrees outside and snowing.
Maybe next year. Or better yet, maybe in the middle of the summer when it's sunny and warm. You don't think anyone will notice if we have lights up all year, do you? Well, anyway. Since we have received our first Christmas cards in the mail, I think I should probably get going on sending out our Christmas cards. Time to settle in, drink some Sleepy Time tea, and watch some Three's Company reruns before retiring for the evening. Gotta rest up for a fun-filled day at the old bullseye tomorrow morning. Good night all!

Is there one in there for you?

So not only am I done Christmas shopping...I'm done wrapping too! Well, almost. I am waiting for Laura's gift to come in the mail. But other than that--DONE! Now if we could only get a tree to put these under...

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh, the holidays.

The holiday season has officially begun, right? I am proud to say that all my Christmas shopping is done. 100%! Now I just have to survive work.

Morgan examining the Christmas cookies she decorated.

Lauren playing out in the snow.

Dad falling asleep, remote in hand, after Thanksgiving dinner.

I'll throw in a picture of Duke in the snow for good measure. It might be time to get a new collar.