The decision I made to take a break from blogging over the holidays turned out to be one of the best professional decisions I’ve made in a long time.  Compared to last year, when I was stressed out and grumpy over having to be away from my computer, this year my mind was clear and I was able to truly enjoy everything about Christmas. Consequently, it was one of the best Christmases I (and my family) have had in a long time.

My Dad and Stepmom went to Arkansas to be with her mother, so instead of our usual Christmas Eve at Dad’s house, we just hung out here at home. We watched movies, played video games, and then sent the kids to bed so Chris and I could do our traditional “wrapping all the presents on Christmas Eve”.  Even though we both bitch about it, neither of us ever wraps anything ahead of time, so I guess we both like staying up together late on Christmas Eve to wrap.

Oh, Chris made the BEST coffee for us to drink to help us stay up so late – a mix of Boca Java’s Vacation Villa Vanilla and Frosty Snow coffee beans, ground together, then flavored with French Vanilla creamer and a shot of Bailey’s. SO GOOD.

Christmas morning was wonderful. Nathan’s big gift was a bike, which we left sitting out in front of the tree. 

I tend to buy too much for the stockings, making them too heavy to hang from the stocking holders, so those went under the tree too.

I gave Chris a list of suggested gifts to buy me for Christmas. When I saw the pile with my name on it on Christmas Day, I was shocked. He and the kids spoiled me rotten this year!  There were snowman ornaments for the tree that he had bought last summer in Traverse City and kept hidden all this time, and a wonderful, WONDERFUL assortment of PERFECT gifts.

The box on the left is “Twilight Woods” perfume from Bath & Body Works, which Chris and the boys picked out together. They told me that they had all agreed that it smelled “really pretty”, and it does!  The main “notes” are cedar and tobacco, and it smells amazing layered over the Warm Vanilla Sugar shower gel and lotion (also Bath & Body Works).  I also got….

See what I mean? Spoiled rotten!   Considering what a tough year 2009 was for Chris and I, I felt like he did more than just buy me Christmas presents. I feel like he said to me, through those presents, that he still knows who I am, likes who I am, and that everything is going to be okay.

Which is pretty much the best Christmas gift of all.

Since this is already so long, I’m going to do another post tomorrow about the kids’ gifts, and our visit to Chris’ Dad’s house on Christmas Day. Thanks for reading!

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. It’s How Many Weeks Until Christmas? – FIVE Yikes! It’s only five weeks until Christmas! It’s probably...
2. How many weeks until Christmas? FIVE If you look at my Christmas Countdown ticker at...
3. Day 4 Giveaway-Lander Kids Bubble Bath and Bath Toys LANDER® Kids Bubble Bath is available in 3 fun,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Wow, 2010. It’s like a date from a science fiction novel except it’s real.  We didn’t do much last night, we watched “District 9″ on Blu-Ray then switched over to CNN to watch the ball drop with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin.  Kaitlyn went to bed but we let the boys stay up. We counted down 3-2-1, yelled HAPPY NEW YEAR!, I kissed everybody, then the boys and I went to bed. Because I’m just THAT FUN after midnight.

I’ve enjoyed taking a break from my blogs and hanging out with my kids over the last week and a half, but now I have ideas for a whole bunch of posts starting to form in my head again, so I’ll be getting myself back on a writing schedule next week. I’ll share photos from Christmas, take a look back at 2009, hopefully my kids will do something interesting.  January 30th is my birthday, it’s my annual tradition to ask my readers to leave a comment, with my goal being to get as many comments as I am years old. So be prepared, 43 of you! lol

Even though I just feel like getting back in bed and taking a nice long nap, Chris says we have to break down the boxes in the garage and go over to the recycling center. Which is open 24/7, lucky me. I guess I AM responsible, since 99% of the boxes are from shipments of product review stuff. Anyway….to all of you who stopped by Table for Five today, THANK YOU.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming here to read my ramblings. Thank you for helping make Table for Five a successful blog. Thank you for reading my posts, entering my giveaways, mentioning me on Twitter and Facebook. I hope you know just how much it means to me. I can’t wait to see what 2010 is going to bring!

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. All Was Merry and Bright The decision I made to take a break from...
2. Read This- Educating Esme: Diary Of A Teacher’s First Year Originally published in 1999, Educating Esmé is technically the...
3. Giving Myself a 4 Year Evaluation Although I’m positive I started this blog in August...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Subway Employee #1- “I need to put up the sign with our hours for Christmas Day.”

Subway Employee #2-”Are you going to spell it ‘Christmas’, or ‘Xmas’?

Subway Employee #1-”Um…both?”

Awesome.

seen outside Subway at Waverly and West Saginaw in Lansing

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. Win a PEP Rally Kit from Subway! Subway wants to make it fun for your kids...
2. How many weeks until Christmas? FIVE If you look at my Christmas Countdown ticker at...
3. It’s How Many Weeks Until Christmas? – FIVE Yikes! It’s only five weeks until Christmas! It’s probably...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you look at my Christmas Countdown ticker at the bottom of the right sidebar, it’s 31 days until Christmas. So I suppose mathematically, that’s four weeks plus a few days, but the way I look at it, there’s this whole week (Monday to Friday), and then four more weeks of Monday to Friday until Christmas. Okay, it’s weird math, but it’s MY weird math, LOL.

So, has anyone else started shopping for gifts? I’ve had three text documents saved since the beginning of last month, one for Kaitlyn, one for the boys, and one for Chris, and in each one, I make a note each time any of them say “you know what I’d like for Christmas?” Of course, Kaitlyn’s list changes pretty much daily, so anything she only mentioned once gets deleted from the list. The few things she’s mentioned over and over got bumped up to the top.

Last night I went to bed at about 11:30, and at 12:45 AM, I was still laying there wide awake. I realized that what I was thinking about was all of the people I’d like to give Christmas presents to, family as well as close friends. I was trying to think of a way that I could accomplish two goals: 1. find Cheap Christmas Gifts and 2. not have to run around to multiple stores dealing with huge crowds. What works best for me is coming up with one gift that works for everyone. So there I am at 12:45 in the morning, and I realized I had just thought of the PERFECT gift that works for everybody!

So, I jump out of bed, turn on the lamp, put on my glasses, pick up a pen off the floor, find a little notebook on my dresser, get back in bed, and start making a list of the families and friends I want to give gifts to.  I made that list, then I made a list of people to make sure to send Christmas cards to. I was done in about fifteen minutes, and when I finished, I put the pen and notebook down on my nightstand, took off my glasses, turned off the lamp, and fell sound asleep!  Apparently, all I need to be able to sleep is to write down all the thoughts swirling around in my head in a notebook!

Have you made your holiday gift list yet?  Done any shopping? Tell me in a comment what’s going on with you!

disclosure: this post contains a sponsored link

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. It’s How Many Weeks Until Christmas? – FIVE Yikes! It’s only five weeks until Christmas! It’s probably...
2. All Was Merry and Bright The decision I made to take a break from...
3. Day 5 Giveaway-Curious George A Very Monkey Christmas Prize Pack Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas is an adorable...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Yikes! It’s only five weeks until Christmas! It’s probably too late to start putting $50 a paycheck into a Christmas Club account at the credit union, right? Dang it.  Every single year, I tell myself that NEXT year, I’m going to start saving right away, and every single year…I don’t.    A couple of years ago, Chris and I instituted a policy that each kid gets two gifts – one from us and one from Santa – but I almost always break that rule by sneaking in a few extra gifts here and there. I can’t help it! I just love that look on their faces Christmas morning when they see the packages under the tree.

I haven’t even thought about gifts for my parents, my brother, Chris’ sister, all of their kids, our Grandparents.  And now I just realized I haven’t even thought about Christmas CARDS…GAHHHHH.   I’ll just try to forget the fact that last year, we posed for a Christmas card, I got a bunch of photo cards printed out at Walgreens, and then NEVER SENT THEM. Ahem.

So I decided I’d better find a way to get organized, so I did some Googling. Here’s some links I found that might help me (and you!) stay on top of everything between now and Christmas:

Six Week Christmas Countdown from Organized Christmas (okay, so we’ll have to skip ahead )

Facebook Christmas Countdown App  (38 DAYS? Somehow five weeks sounded longer, yeeesh!)

Wordpress Christmas Countdown Plugin

How about all of you? Have you started shopping for gifts? Thought about cards? FIVE WEEKS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. How many weeks until Christmas? FIVE If you look at my Christmas Countdown ticker at...
2. Mickey’s Christmas Carol DVD review It’s only 10 weeks until Christmas, which for me...
3. All Was Merry and Bright The decision I made to take a break from...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.