Xmas Morning

so, sasarh told me that i hadn't told about xmas morning yet. xmas eve we went to derek's brother's house for his b-day and had fun and then came home. while i was waiting for the kids to fall asleep i nodded off on the couch. derek woke me up after he had taken the kids to bed.

i set up the train track and got all the presents and put them under the tree

i filled the stockings

and then i went to bed. i woke up around 7:30 am and waited for the kids to get up. emmy woke up first and i sent her to wake up andrew and daddy. i started the train and the kids came out and opened their presents. we didn't do it in any special order or anything. it was a nice morning.

oh, and don't worry, they got lots of presents at their g-parents house also, so they got more than three presents each.

Well...

it certainly was an eventful day. yesterday morning derek's parents called and asked if we could go to their house and get things started, as far as breakfast and fire, because derek's dad was going to the ER. his leg was hurting and it turns out he had another blood clot, just as was suspected. well, they came back a few hours later and we got on with the festivities. we had a really nice Christmas (Xmas) and had a good prime rib dinner, courtesy of charlie. after all was said and done, we were ready to head home at about nine o'clock in the evening. we got andrew into his boots and coat and got him zipped up and told him to go say goodbye to everyone. on the way to the couch he tripped and fell, hitting his head on the coffee table. my poor little guy started bleeding really bad and we took him to the ER for stitches. then we saw nursemom up on the thirdfloor and she heard the whole story. andrew is doing fine. as long as he doesn't act drunk or confused in the next few weeks, he should be okay, and he can get his stitches out on tuesday.

Christmas Eve!

well, tonight is the night. i need to get my kids to bed and then i can get out all the presents and set them up and fill the stockings and set them out. all the preparations have gone toward tomorrow morning. so exciting!

Our Tree

well, i'm finally putting pictures up of our tree. it's six feet tall and derek picked out the lights and star.

the star blinks from green to blue about once every second

here's a closer picture of the tree so you can see the bows and balls better. the bows are just ribbon and the balls are just gathered glittered tulle. i like that i have nothing breakable on the tree.
i am really happy with how it turned out. maybe next year i will get some kind of beaded garland, like gold or winter white, or something. anyway, i really like my tree. it's simplistic and sweet.

It's Christmas Time in the City

so i got my ornaments, but i still feel like there is something missing from my tree. maybe i need some candy canes or garland or something. hmmm, i'll have to think about that. anyway, things are going fine. we're getting stuff together for christmas. i think that i may attempt to make my own pajamas for christmas. see, we have a tradition that we get new pajamas to wear on christmas eve and then we already have them on on christmas morning. i just really love christmas. i love wrapping the gifts and decorating the tree and all. i just really love it.

A Work in Progress

so derek had the day off yesterday and we went to the store. (in this story, "the store" means wal*mart) i wanted to show derek the Christmas trees. we had seen some at Costco earlier, but they were like $100! yeah right, i'm gonna pay that for a tree! we found one at "wal*marts" for $20. now that's more like it. so...we got it. then we had to get lights and a star for the top. personally i don't like blinking lights and angels on top are not for me, so those were both out. derek wanted colored lights and he picked out a star that blinks green and blue alternately. i wanted white lights and just a metal star. we went with derek's choices. i figured since he was being such a good sport about the whole thing i should let him pick out some of the stuff. now i just need to get ornaments. i also think i want to get some red and green ribbons and tie them on in lieu of tinsel or garland. when i'm all done i'll take pictures. the nice thing is that the tree is small enough around i only had to do minimal rearranging. basically i just shoved my big chair about six inches one way. now the tree is in the living room between the chair and couch. i still need to get the stockings somewhere...

Christmas is coming!

can't believe it's december already! so crazy! anyway, now that that's out of the way- so excited for Xmas. that's right, i said Xmas. i'm not afraid of shortening it. once i said that to someone and they acted all offended, like i took Christ out of it. well, X is an acceptable form of Christ. don't believe me? check it out http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/xmasabbr.asp here. i really like this snopes.com place. they tell me all sorts of things and they are for real. i check out all suspicious emails here. a bil and his wife are constantly sending me things that say they are "for real, i checked it out on snopes" but really, i go and check it out and it's false. anyway, Xmas is easier for me to right.
back to the original topic- i so love Christmas time. i want to get a tree this year. we've never had one before and i think the kids are old enough to not bother it too much. i also made stockings for us all this year. once i get them ironed and hung up i will include pictures. of course i will ask my dad to help with the hanging up part. my mom tried to explain to me how to do it, but it just sounded complicated. why not have someone who knows what they are doing do it instead of me ruining stuff. i want hooks installed under the overhang of my half wall. i don't have a drill, wouldn't know what size hook to get, and would probably just hurt the kids in the process. anyway, i'll have to rearrange my apartment a little bit. my mil says that i should take my chair out of the living room and put the tree in front of the sliding glass door. that opinion is also shared by a sil. i think instead that i will turn my dining table and put the tree in front of that window. of course i first have to get a tree. i went and looked at some the other day, but they were too expensive. my mil said she would make me some ornaments, so all i would need it some ribbon and lights. not much. anyway, needless to say, i'm wanting to really "do" chrismas this year. well, gotta go clean up the house so i can make a fabric wreath, bye bye!