Christmas Is Coming

Last Friday we took the day off to go Christmas shopping with Mary. We had already finished ours, for the most part, but had to get stuff for the kids from Auntie Sue, Eric, Papa, etc... So fun, shopping with other people's money! We spent the day out- got lunch, Starbucks, hit the mall, Walmart, etc... and had a great time. This week Jake was off school so he and Mary spent most of the time baking and playing cards together. They got a lot of quality one-on-one time together and we benefitted from the yummy cinnamon rolls, cookies, potato salad, spaghetti sauce, Chex Mix, and other treats that they made. Jake has loved the hundreds of games of Go Fish, Old Maid, War, Crazy 8's, and Uno. Plus he has had an almost untiring audience for his basketball moves upstairs. That kid has got quite a layup!

Work was slow with all schools on vacation and scut work all done for the time being so I was able to take it pretty easy- getting presents wrapped during the day, coffee cards delivered to all the "extra" people we wanted to thank, meeting a friend for coffee, and even cleaning out my closet, the kids toy closets, and all of the books. Brian spearheaded that event and even though I nearly cried as I whittled my shoe collection down from 40 to 29 in the end it was well worth it. Bags and bags of crap were donated- two huge boxes of books, several hefty bags of clothes (both of ours), and lots and lots of old toys. The house looks great and we are really hoping to pare down further this year, going for a "simplicity" resolution. If nothing else, we are committing to donating one item for every item we bring in the house. So... if I feel I must have that 7th bathing suit I will need to get rid of one that I already own. If we get the boys yet another shirt, one goes to Goodwill. Hopefully it will help twofold: cut down on our spending for trivial items and also get us to live more simply. After the New Year we also plan on restarting P90X. I was really good until yesterday when I just gave up and decided to put it on hold until Jan. 1. With all the treats around it just seemed sort of pointless!!

We have watched our favorite holiday special twice (Shrek the Halls) and still laugh out loud through most of it- even the kids quote their favorite lines now. Tonight we went out Christmas Caroling with the neighbors- an annual event put on by the Merc. I couldn't believe I got Brian out to do it with us!! He and Faith came home early and had some delicious hot chocolate ready for the boys and I when we returned. Earlier in the evening we had taken some time to drive through the neighborhood admiring the lights and plotting our display for next year. I FINALLY heard my favorite holiday song: Baby it's Cold Outside.

So, all in all, we are all in the Christmas Spirit and ready for a relatively quiet Christmas Eve tomorrow filled with what is sure to be many more card games, some more baking (I am making a double chocolate cheesecake), Wii games, basketball upstairs, a showing of The Santa Clause, family game night (Headbandz anyone?), new jammies, and a "snacky dinner" complete with Lays chips, sandwich fixings, olive bread, homemade potato salad, and spinach dip. It will just be the six of us this year, no turkey dinner and stuffing but lots of time together. Christmas morning will be pretty mellow, too (as mellow as Christmas morning can be with three children under 7 and way too many toys....). I am making pasta for dinner and already have a long Family Nap in the plans for midday, as well as lots of basketball and football on TV :)

I was looking through our Christmas album yesterday and came upon pics from Christmas 2008- we had the joy of seeing so many of our friends and family that year in the Bay Area. We miss you all and send our love this holiday season!