Merry Christmas!

The next few days are going to be a bustle of craziness......but I thought I would throw up a quick greeting and a view of our Christmas Card this year.






Please note the typo....thank God I did it on my card only:) Too many things going at once....but I am ready to settle down for a lovely, fun, and PEACE-filled Christmas.

I realized I haven't put up a Christmas post....so, here goes. Just a few of the hundreds of pics taken.

Christmas Eve is the annual jammies, junk food, and story reading from papa. My grandparents don't need jammies, so this year my mom got them Snuggies.....cracked me up!

My sister got ahold of my camera (the big one) and did some picture taking. I have some competition out there I think.....

Christmas Morning, my wonderful husband had to go serve and protect the citizens of Champaign. He threw a fit (not a real one, a fake one) because we didn't have mashed potatoes and gravy for Christmas dinner, so my mom made him some special before he had to go to work. I think that was his favorite Christmas present. Personally, mashed potatotes for breakfast is not my thing.

He's pretty cute in that uniform huh? :)


OF course...the kids made out like bandits, as did mom and dad with a lovely canvas portrait of their girls....

My mom's favorite gift was when we sang her Christmas carols...first the girls sang "Where Are You Christmas" from The Grinch, then we followed up with Mariah Carey's version of "All I want for Christmas Is You". You just don't mess with Mariah, but mom liked it anyway.....the video will be locked in a vault never to be seen. Ever.

The next day, I bought a gingerbread kit on clearance and the girls and we all made houses.

Russ was very particular about his....

There was much much more, but that's the jist. I can't believe it has already come and has been gone for close to two weeks now, but such is life with kids right?

Annual Christmas card shoot

I should be in bed. I haven't been to bed before midnight in over a week. And it started off as one NASTY week too. Lets just say a flat tire in "the hood" was not a way to start the week. Plus I taught my daughter some new words...**sigh*** mother of the year, right here! (BTW..they weren't cuss words persay, it was freakin' and heck, Christian cuss-words if you will. Just had to clarify that:)

My friend Stacia (that's her nickname:) showed me a pic of her pastors kids who were dressed up like "Who-people" a la The Grinch, and that was it. I knew that would be our Christmas card. After editing these pics, I decided I wished I would've used a white background, but it just washed out the little two and their light hair, so black it was.

Here are a few that won't make the card-cut, though they are too cute not to share!

If you want to see the final results....you better start begging to make the list! :)

Christmas card promotion!

By the way, that is $40, not $70. I did not choose my font wisely:)

Be prepared for less bloggage. I think I will be busy.....

The "Christmas Post"....FINALLY!

So here it is, January 9th, and I'm just now posting on Christmas. I'm such a lazy woman these days, I have no excuse. Above is my Christmas tree, the day I took it down. I was so sad Christmas was here and gone, I turned off all my lights and looked at my tree glowing in the quiet of that morning, it was actually kind of peaceful. I love decorating my house and having the warm glow of the lights, I just wanted to savor the last few minutes I had it:o)

Christmas this year was probably the best it has been in the past 3 years, with the exception of a little panic early (and I mean early!) Christmas Eve morning with regards to my dad being lost at the airport (he wasn't, the Wench at LEX Express lied and told us they didn't pick him up when in fact he had gotten on the bus..long story...DON'T use Lex Express!) Bottom line, Dad got here safe and sound, Thank you GOD!

Christmas came, was a blast, and past. Our Christmas Eve traditions went off without any hitches. We did our traditional hanging of the ornaments (Yes, they got their tree the day before Christmas Eve, for $10:o), and Jon got us started with a little American Idol karaoke...

He's such a freak:o) I wish I had video to show, it was pretty funny. Next up was "Charlie Brown's Christmas", my dad's favorite Christmas cartoon because it is the only one that tells the true meaning of Christmas. And yes...Emmy is picking her nose:o)

Next, dad read the Christmas story, and my older girls were really annoyed due to all the action in the room involving Mae, Noah, and Eli. They are a bit young to sit still through an entire story, and the fire in the fireplace looked much more appealing to Noah:)

You can truly read the annoyance on Emmy's face! Mae only cared about the little glass house mom had set out....

The evening was capt off with a not-so-little game of monopoly, debit card style. This game lasted for two straight days before they finally had to end it!

Christmas morning was filled with a free-for-all present unwrapping beginning at our house and being taken over to mom's. I have too many pictures to post of my kids opening all their presents, so I will spare all of you! My sister (or should I say the future Mrs. David Cook) did pose with her favorite present....

He just needs to dump that stinkin' other little AI tramp and she's "In like Flynn"

My favorite moment of Christmas was when my mom and dad opened their present from us kids. I had an idea to give my mom a memory book that I made. Diana and I worked on it for like 2 1/2 months before Christmas, and our goal was simple..."this better make them cry".....

....It did....a lot:) We also all pitched in and got them a new digital camera since mom had to sell theirs at their garage sale when Dad first went to TC to pay some bills. I put a note on it when they opened it that this was to make some "new, good memories".

I think it's working so far:)

So our Christmas was awesome this year. It wasn't about presents or all the commercial "crap" that comes with it. We all were together most of the weekend, and there were no fights or tension that has accompanied the last few Christmas's we have had. It was wonderful.

Next up...Happy New Year...Happy new DIET!

Christmas programs and hair color

This past weekend was pretty stinking busy. Friday was my big hair appointment. I decided to change it up and go with a different color. I have been blonde (and many variations of blonde) for my whole life. I hadn't had any color in my hair for a while now, and last year, Russ suggested red. I didn't want to go brunette because my whole family went brunette, and I wanted to be different, but red kinda scared me. So a whole year later, I decided I would try. At the salon, I discussed it with my greatly talented hair stylist Britt, and we decided on a mix of the two, brunette with red undertones.....so....I guess you would call it an auburn-ish. (don't mind the self-portrait.....its not that easy to do with my camera...and I'm not photogenic:o)

I think I want to go with more red next time. I will probably go back to blonde in the spring or summer, but for now, its fun. And it makes my eyes look bluer, so that is always good.

Saturday we worked at the Center and went through clothes with my mom, and I took the girls to buy Christmas dresses for their concerts the next day (thanks Aunt Marilyn!)as well as a gift for Russ's Christmas party. It was crazy! I couldn't even get down the aisle at Target without having a mini-meltdown due to the massive amount of people there, so I chucked the whole thing and went to Wal-Mart in Urbana where it was not quite as busy. My sister loving refers to it as the "Lonely Wal-Mart" which seems appropriate.

Sunday we had church in the morning, Emmy's Christmas program at 1:00, Faith's Christmas program at 5:00, and Russ's Christmas party right after that at Alexanders. The girls were adorable as usual in their new dresses......

...and they both did a super job at their programs. We rushed them to mom's soon after Faith was done singing, and went to Alexander's for Russ's turn. It was a good night, but I wouldn't probably frequent Alexander's due to the extreme cost of our dinner which was good, but not exactly worth $75 it cost to eat.

So how was your weekend?