winner winner

Did I tell y'all how Abby won Christmas this year?

It's no secret I love giving gifts. Christmas is my jam. Typically I have an easy time shopping for everyone on my list, but this year my Mom was proving tricky. A couple of months ago The Abster and I were sitting here chatting about all things Christmas..... What am I going to get Granny this year? Do you have any ideas?

And she did. She had one fantastic idea. An idea so fantastic that when Granny finally got to open it, this happened......



I think she likes it.

So what was Abby's fantastic idea?........ You know what Granny needs, a phone case. The one she has is booooring. She needs something fancier.

I know what you're thinking, dang how fancy was that phone case? Pretty dang fancy, let me tell you. We ordered her a custom phone case complete with pictures of the entire family.

It was a home run, out of the park!



Nice work, Abbers!

holiday celebrating in blogmotherland

I don't want to brag or jinx anything, but I feel confident enough to tell you all, on Boxing Day, that I managed to get through Christmas 2014 pink eye free! It's a Festivus Miracle!

Christmas with us is always a marathon more than a sprint, so you have to pace yourself and I think we get better and better and unlocking that achievement every year. This year we had our quietest Christmas Day on record. We opened the few gifts there were under the tree and then Mike and I kicked all kinds of breakfast ass with eggs benny for the cool kids and sausage and waffles for the kiddos. Then it was nothing, but Spiderman 2 and episodes of The Gilmore Girls until dinner at Poppa and Grandma's.

Dinner was delicious as always, but even better is the laughs. There's always an abundance of laughs.  We had four generations around the table and the girls were super cute sharing their toys with the senior members of the family. Perplexus for the win, yo.  There was also several fun rounds of Heads Up courtesy of Maya's iPad, the holiday deck of course.

Today will be a bit more hectic because there is Christmas with a couple of more Grandmas, which will mean more laughs and more good food and probably some more Heads Up, if we're lucky.

Before all that happens this Mama has stuff to organize and pack and prepare, so I'll send out Holiday Hugs to all of you!

it really was a great christmas

Aside from the pink eye debacle we did enjoy a perfectly lovely Christmas with the girls. I didn't take a ton of pictures because of the eyes and really just wanting to soak up all their excitement. They may not have had much off their lists under the tree, but they were over the moon with what was there.

I loved my fashion plates when I was a kid, remember those? When I found out that Melissa & Doug made a version I knew I had to get it for Maya. What I wasn't expecting was for Abby to love it just as much. The spent half the day just designing outfits. I probably should have bought them a package of paper as well. The jumbo pack of markers that were tucked in Maya's stocking were a great addition to this gift.



We spent the day building lego and watching Big Bang Theory, eating cinnamon buns and just generally hanging out in our jammies. Santa even brought  me new jammies this year, which was great... you know I love my jammers. We shared a very yummy turkey dinner with family at Poppa and Grandma Linda's. There may also have been some presents. The girls are both headed back to art school for the winter. Maya's going to pottery class and Abby is headed to a class that allows her to try a bunch of different techniques and mediums. As for me I have books to read, a movie and a dinner out, new cake pans to bake in, a new hoodie, a year's worth of potential lottery winnings and some cash to spend on myself.



Boxing Day brought us brunch with Grandma Sandi and of course the upsetting pink eye diagnosis. So we ate some more cinnamon buns and Grandma's famous sausage and egg casserole. We finished up our Christmas puzzle and then spent the rest of the day with tea bags on their eyes.... oh that one was just me. The kids spent some more time with the lego and their new toys from Grandma Sandi before settling in to watch Despicable Me 2.



So yeah, I can't really complain about Christmas at all. Hope you all enjoyed yourselves as well!

should have listened to him years ago

You guys....... I'm afraid I haven't been completely honest with you and I really feel the need to come clean. Are you sitting down? Ok, good.

Deep breath.

We bought a fake Christmas tree.

I know. I know! Let me tell you nobody is more surprised at this turn events then this chick right here. Growing up we always had a fake tree. My Mom would turn our dining room (that we never used as a dining room) into a Christmas wonderland every year and our fake tree was the centre piece. Mike, on the other hand, had a real tree at his place growing up. Once we got married and had a place of our own we went the real tree route.

Now before you feel it necessary to explain to me the evils of a fake tree let me just say... I know! I do. I know, they are horrible for the environment for many reasons. On the flip side a real tree benefits the earth in a lot of ways. So, yeah I get it. Believe me I have argued the real tree side many times before. So how did we get here? 

Mike has been over the whole real tree thing for a few years and has been lobbying hard for a fake one, but I kept putting him off for one more year, just one more year and then we'll buy one at the boxing day sales. Which, of course, we never did. This year at the end of November one of the flyers had some killer deals on fake trees. I saw one that looked very nice (on paper) and cost about the equivalent to what we were going to pay for a real tree. The Grannies managed to snag us the last one in the store, just by chance, and brought it home to us. And just like that we became fake tree owners.

Here's the funny thing I realized in the past month.... a real tree really messed with my anxiety. This has been the least anxious I have been at Christmas since I can't remember when and when I sat down to really analyze why that was, it suddenly dawned on me... the tree. Here's the thing with a real tree I'd have to figure out a time to get it and then getting it in the house and straight in the stand.... oh boy. If Mike and I were ever going to decide to separate it would be while we were getting the tree straight in the stand. Also Mike is not a decorator... which is fine, the kids and I LOVE it, but the past couple of years decorating the tree has caused my arms to break out in hives. Then I had to make sure there was always water in the stand and don't get me started on the needles everywhere.

Now we get to undecorating... a chore I hate more than anything... and lucky for me, one Mike doesn't mind doing except for getting the tree back outside. Now if I was ever going to ask Mike to move out, it would be while he's taking the tree back outside. Gee, you write that all out and I have to wonder why I'd put myself through all that when it clearly didn't make me happy. The most wonderful time of the year and I'm making myself miserable on purpose.

So the fake tree went up, I let the kids decorate it themselves (Maya did most of it) and then I didn't give it another thought. It probably sounds silly, it's just a stupid tree, but the amount of peace it's given my mind cannot be understated.

lunch time

Over 12,000 steps yesterday, according to my pedometer... I guess that explains why I was so beat. Exhausted really, but in the very best way. Yesterday was Christmas Lunch day! I really love Christmas Lunch day... here's the highlights.

I am a long time Christmas Lunch helper, but if I knew last year that JB and I were going to be first time Christmas Lunch organizers this year... well I'm sure we both would have paid a lot more attention. Here's the thing though.. .if you're going to organize any kind of big event from large scale canning days to serving turkey dinner to 160 people well JB is a hell of a partner to do it with. I don't just say that because she's one of my best girls... I mean I do, because I'm a good friend like that, but even if we weren't it would still be true. She's my organizer and my list maker which is going to pay off huge next year when Christmas Lunch time rolls back around.

Fifty pounds of potatoes is just enough to serve 160 people. We didn't have a spoonful left at the end. Just in case you were wondering. JB says we cook sixty pounds next year. In case we forget that little tidbit of information... it will be on her list.

I can now proudly go around saying I have been part of a flash mob and don't worry I will be telling everyone because how awesome is that? I definitely didn't have all the steps right, having missed all the rehearsals that took place during nutrition break, but video was shot so I'm sure I'll be able to find out at some point that I looked way worse then I think I did. Abby did try to teach me the moves and by teach me I mean she watched me dance while shaking her head and saying.... you're still doing it wrong. You're still doing it wrong. Mom! Seriously!

Also kindergarten aged kids don't really get what a flash mob is, they just assume it's one giant dance party and hop up to join you. Which was very cute and not just because they didn't know the steps any better than I did.

Turns out as a bonus if you're organizing the event you're off the hook for washing dishes, so that was a nice little Christmas treat for JB and I after countless years of Christmas Lunch dishwashing.

I had the opportunity to speak with Moms (new friends and old!!) and teachers, to share some laughs, shed some tears (happy ones) and gather up as many hugs as I could. I can't think of a better way to have spent the day.

the midway point

So the 25 days of Christmas so far have been pretty low key mostly because I am freezing. Yes, I am freezing. Why did this winter get so cold so fast? Why did it get so cold so fast before the kids had finished this session of riding lessons? Trust me, sitting in a barn for multiple hours per week is way colder than it sounds. So much colder. Only two more lessons left... not that I was counting. Don't get me wrong I love love love watching the girls ride, but I much prefer to watch in the spring. The girls are ready to be done as well. Poor Maya had to hop off Moose a couple of times to warm up in the tack room tonight.

So our 25 days of Christmas have involved a lot of hot chocolate, jammies and fuzzy blankets on the couch while we attempted to warm up. We wrapped some presents, coloured some pictures, decorated the tree and watched a Christmas movie or two. Still to come is The Polar Express, cookie baking, gingerbread house decorating, neighbour visiting and maybe caroling if we ever completely warm up.

it's almost time

Can you believe it's almost December? Was it just me or did December go super fast? It's less than a week until we start the latest edition of the 25 days of Christmas. I cannot wait. The kids cannot wait.

So what do we have on deck for this year? I have no real idea. I really fly by the seat of my pants with this one. For me the 25 Days of Christmas isn't about doing 25 big crazy activities, but more about concentrated family time. I do have some tried and true favourites that I'll be trotting out again this year.

Colouring pages are still a big hit around here. And the girls love that we take the time to colour with them. We sip hot chocolate and giggle about silly things.

Our 25 days of Christmas instructions come via our Christmas Elf, Elwood who sometimes drops off books he borrowed from the North Pole library. We need to leave those books out for Santa on Christmas Eve so he can take them back to the North Pole with him.

We'll decorate a gingerbread house with Granny. Elwood leaves Granny instructions sometimes too!

There will be popcorn and Christmas movies. We'll eat waffles shaped like Christmas trees. Bake and deliver treats to the neighbours. There will definitely be some Christmas themed Charades. We'll wrap some presents, make some ornaments, decorate some gift bags. We'll drink hot chocolate floats and play roll-a-snowman. With this being the Year of Awesome... awesome seems to find us, so I'm excited to see what comes up that we can fill the gaps in with.

Do you do the 25 days of Christmas?

shopping days

So dudes it's like a month and half until Christmas!! Hang on I'm just going to duck as you toss whatever you can get your hands on at me. Hey, I'm sorry. Don't get mad at me. I'm not the one who decided it was going to be on December 25th every year. At the risk of ticking you off even more... I'm probably halfway done my shopping.

You see Christmas these days in BlogmotherLand comes with a pretty restrictive budget which means I have to shop as fiscally responsible and creatively as I can. To that end I shop with a formula. For the kids it's pretty strict. Here's the deal.... we have enough stuff. One more Barbie is not going to make a difference around here, so I ask myself is it really necessary? My kids make wish lists every year.... Maya's already made one and I'm not going to lie to you... there isn't a thing on it that I would buy for her. Trampoline... um, no. Not ever. Those that have them.... good on you, but ugh I hate trampolines. A $50 Barbie doll that I know will be naked just like every one of the other 25 Barbies we already have? Not on my watch. Moon sand..... oh sweet Jesus no, that stuff is from the devil!! Those are the kinds of gifts indulgent Grandparents buy and I absolutely support their right to do that..... unless they've wrapped up a trampoline.

That sounds all kinds of mean doesn't it? If you were to ask my kids..... and I have... they have never, not once, been disappointed with what Santa has deemed to leave for them under the tree. They can be sure to find a board game because I think things like family game night are important. They will have something crafty to work away at while they are off school. They will have something to read. There will be new jammies, our yearly photo album, and a funky shirt or two. That's my base, I'll add a few other little surprises like lego and such.

Having an idea of what I'm going to buy lets me keep an eye out for deals so I can get the biggest bang for my buck. Our photo album (already done and printed!!) I got for 50% off because I had my eye out for a photobook deal. Tonight I picked up Maya's crafty gift (fashion plates!! Who remembers those?) because Indigo was offering 25% off Melissa and Doug toys. Grabbed Abby's book to qualify for free shipping and it was 33% off as well. Got both items for just a little bit more that what one should have cost me. That's just smart shopping.

Last year I scored some killer deals on black friday shopping online and my plan is to finish everything up then. I have list of what I need to buy and a chart that tells me the cost at three of my favourite online retailers. It sounds like work, but it allows me to get through Christmas on budget and without having to resort to using credit. As an added bonus... having it done early makes for a less stressful and more enjoyable December. All ideas I can get on board with!

So that's how I tackle Christmas....  how about you?

rested

~Going to put the world away for a minute, pretend I don't live in it....~ Knee Deep by The Zac Brown Band

Going into this holiday season, that was not necessarily my plan, but that's what I ended up doing. There is something wrong with my laptop, but I'm slowly working my way through it. It turns on regularly now, so that's a huge plus. I think I've picked up a bug of some sort, so now it's just a matter of tracking it down, which means I'm running scans of all sorts on it.... scans that take an incredibly long time to run through 100%. All that to say that we're back to being a one computer family, but there are worse things. It also means I've had more time for knitting and board games and movies (the Avengers was awesome y'all and my crush on RDJ has increased tenfold) and reading. Mike and I actually read the same book this month and then had a really fun after dinner convo about it... that may have been my favourite Christmas present :)

So Uncle Dave and Auntie Melly were here for a couple of days. Way too short by Abby and Maya's calculations..... mine too. Maya always figures if she refuses to hug them good-bye they won't be able to leave, but it doesn't quite work that way.Adelaide my dog niece was here as well.... the whole family may have taken to her a little too much and she too us since she needed to be coaxed into Dave and Mel's car when it came time to go. The kids are currently begging for a dog of their own. Sigh.

Christmas was quiet and busy and lovely, full of family and smiles and hugs. The theme of less is more has spread like wildfire... at least in these parts. Mike had a moment of.. did we get the kids enough... but they were more than happy with what they got. Happier still just to be with everyone. Maya had some bonding time with Great Uncle G-Mac, someone she usually pretends doesn't exist, but turns out Uncle G-Mac is a rock star when it comes to find the difference picture puzzles and Maya was super stuck on one. That kind of desperation makes you do funny things.

Mike and I got less, but more as well. The girls got us a bird feeder and seed, now I'm waiting not very patiently for the birds to start to use it. Yep, I am a bit of a bird nerd. I scored some running gear, some clothes, some books, a new broom and a gift card for some new clothes.

I'd love to share pictures with you, but they are on my laptop and on facebook if we're friends there. I will share as soon as I get my computer straightened out.

so far...

I'm not sure I could have made today anymore perfect than it ended up being. Maya declared this the best Christmas of her entire life... yes, all darn near seven years of it!

Our gifts to the kids were decidedly old school, rug hooking, corking, books, board games and arty things. We tried to cross an item off Maya's "dream list" - a chihuahua - with a webkinz version of the pup, but apparently a stuffed version was not what she meant.

The whole family has promises of magazines coming in the mail....... Mail that isn't bills is awesome sauce!

We had a breakfast that was full of really great bacon and ten tons of laughs even though there was a technical foul that had Grandma Linda ejected from breakie... think twice before you steal pancakes off another family member's plate kids. It's my Christmas Brunch Public Service Announcement to y'all.

I combined two of my favourite apple pie recipes and ended up with one epically delicious super apple pie. I wish I had room for another piece right now.

Granny cooked our turkey the day before and carved it up, we tossed it in the oven to warm while we got everything else ready, so we had Christmas dinner ready for less than an hour of kitchen time today. I highly recommend this.

My plan was to play along with the hourly photo project and then I got completely sidetracked by my family, which is an awesomely great thing.

I have been collecting Christmas hugs like a bandit this year... also awesomely great!

zen

Well the stockings are stuffed, the gifts under the tree, the kids sleeping snug in their beds and I'm hanging here at way too late o'clock with Uncle Dave and Michael watching completely trashy TV.

Today was spent quietly. Mike had to work for a bit. The kids and I puttered around the house getting things ready for Uncle Dave and Auntie Mel. We walked my dog niece, Adelaide and ran into the sweetest little corgi. We watched Christmas Vacation. We told some stories. Ate some food. Went to church. Ate some more food. Teased my Mom. Laughed a lot. Pretty much the perfect day.

Merry Christmas everyone.

almost there

Oh my! The big day is almost here. My Mom called me last night and asked what I was doing.... I was reading a book. You're all wrapped? Yep. Baking all done? Mostly. So I was reading my overdue library book. Mike took care of the groceries this morning, so if it's not in this house now then you aren't getting it. Which just reminds me I forgot to put orange juice on the list. Oops.

Mom said she felt this year has been less frenzied and I am inclined to agree with here. I hope the same is true for all of you.

play

Well tomorrow evening the girls are participating in the Christmas pageant at our church. Maya has agreed to be an angel which requires her to wear a costume and appear on stage singing with other children. She seems pretty stoked about it, so we'll see if she actually goes through with it. I think she just might.

Abby was asked to sing a solo. She agreed, but after dress rehearsal tonight I think she may be wondering what in the heck she got herself into. She was a little wide-eyed and there was only myself and another Mom watching.

I anticipate being a weepy mess watching them perform tomorrow night. Can't wait to see it all together.

feeling zen

Can you believe it's less than two weeks until Christmas. That's just craziness I tell you. Also shocking... I'm not even finished my shopping. Well the kids are all done, gifts, stockings the works and wrapped too. That's the most important part, right? Everything else will fall into place. I've got to be honest there is a lot less shopping going on in these parts anyway. Gifts are smaller, way smaller. We're looking at buying a new to us vehicle in the spring, so now is not the time to collect any unnecessary debt since the plan is to pay for this vehicle outright.

There was a point in my life that I would have pushed ahead and made purchases outside of our financial comfort zone and even then I would have agonized about whether or not the gift was "enough". Living with the absence of all that baggage the old Shannon had to carry around with her is pretty freaking awesome, while I do have some odds and sods to add to some gifts I feel no pressure to make them any more than what they are. They may be more modest, but have no less love and thought behind them. I am feeling very calm and relaxed approaching this Christmas and a way I never have before and it's a pretty sweet deal.

The thing I am looking forward to the most is time. Time with my family and friends. Time for sleeping in and jammie days. Time for movies and board games. Time for re-telling stories we've all heard a million times before. Time for sharing delicious food with wonderful people. Time for tea by the Christmas tree. If that was all I got for Christmas it would be more than enough.

time

Can you believe that we're like a week away from Halloween? What the heck happened to October? I thought the summer whipped by pretty fast and looks like the fall is going the same way. I haven't even had a chance to pull my meager Halloween decorations out of the basement and in a blink it will be time to haul out the Christmas stuff.

Got your Christmas shopping done yet?

ho ho ho

Well as some of you know I have already started my Christmas shopping. Picked another little something up for Abby late last week. I think she's going to LOVE it. Can't wait to give it to her. Maya's getting in on the action too and has started her list for Santa. So far there's only one item on it...... an ipad.

She's six.

Hope she's not disappointed with the Toy Story figures Santa already picked up for her.

santa bag care packages

This year I implemented the very successful Christmas theme - Less is More and It's the Thought That Counts. You know, to say it's a nice sentiment, but I wasn't sure how I was going to make it a reality because I like to give gifts. Then in the weeks leading up to Christmas I found myself thinking about my Grandmas. Thinking about Santa Bags and Care Packages and came up with a sort of a hybrid of the two. Let's just knock the rest out bullet style....

Santa Bags were a stocking type gift we got from my Dad's Mom. Who doesn't like getting a stocking? So many little treasures tucked into them. Care Packages were something my Mom's Mom used to do, but to be fair they didn't necessarily show up for Christmas... an anniversary, sure. There would be sensible things in there like pasta and fun treats like chocolate bars. Even after my Dad passed away she would still tuck in some snickers bars because those were his favourite.

Instead of gift bags I bought reusable shopping bags. Each bag was loaded with goodies for the family, so we did family gifts this year instead of strict individual gifts.

I made treats like puppy chow, cookies and tomato sauce and in addition I bought treats like fancy nuts and favourite chocolate bars. I bought those kinds of things slowly in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I had all the bags lined up along the wall in my bedroom and would drop the item in the appropriate bag as I purchased them. So it didn't take much to get them ready for the big day.

I did buy some actual presents to tuck into the bags. Things like books, movies or in my Mom's case, oven mitts because she'd admired mine so much. I kept my eyes on the sales and bought things in little bits in the weeks before. The vast majority of what I did buy was on sale. I have to give a shout out to Mrs January and BargainMoose Canada for keeping me up to date with the deals.

In Mike's family we have a big stocking tradition. It's one of those giant 5 foot stockings that Papa Al bought for Papa Joyce years ago and now each family gets a turn receiving it, the rest of us all chip in to fill it. So I used coupons to score some great deals on cleaning supplies, shampoo, soap and such. I also used coupons on products that we might not use, but that were gratefully accepted at the agency we donate to.

I kept an eye on all the deal sites like groupon, wag jag and the like and bought up deals for dinners out to tuck into bags. I also managed to scoop an incredible deal for photo calendars that went to all the grandparents and for our yearly family photobook. Would you believe in the days after Christmas I picked up a groupon to use towards next year's photobook?

What would I do differently? Not much to be honest. I would start earlier with a better plan about what treats I's like to add to the bags. So I can start stocking my pantry. I'd make things easier on myself and have the same home made treats right across the board. That way I'm not making 6 different recipes. The bags were a great hit with everyone and I absolutely loved making them. Expect to see them again next year!

sharing christmas cheer

One of our 25 days of Christmas activities was a multi-day project - making treats to share with friends.

First the kids made a list of who they would like to share treats with so we would know how many to make. Then we got to work making hot chocolate stirrers a fun little project I found on pinterest. They are dead easy. Jab a sucker stick into a marshmallow and dip into chocolate. Leave them upright on waxed paper until they are set and then bag up and tie with a ribbon.




The kids did most of the dipping themselves, I just made sure the sucker sticks were securely engaged. The kids had a blast with this. Some of them they dipped in sprinkles, but most they just left plain. We dipped an entire bag of marshmallows and then left them to dry.




We took another night to pack stirrers and hot chocolate into gifts bags for our friends. We passed the Christmas cards around the table so everyone could sign their own names. Even this part was a fun little family project.




Of course the most fun part was the delivering.




Another fun for the whole family activity.




Abby was super eager to share some Christmas cheer.




Maya was a bit slower to come around, but was having fun by the time we got to the bitterly cold end.




I have to say this was a great family Christmas activity. The kids loved being able to share something they had made themselves. We will definitely be doing this again next year.

christmas round up

You guys, I think I am finally over the worst of this cold. Last night I slept for 11 hours in a row and so did the kids. It was heaven and just what I needed. Towards the end of Christmas day and the two days following it were the worst I've felt so far and I chalk a lot of it up to lack of sleep. Oh and just for kicks the universe decided to throw in a bout of intestinal distress that lasted from Christmas Eve until Boxing Day. Good times.

Actually despite all that it was good times.

Best Gift Ever.
That Uncle Dave and Auntie Mel were here with us for four days! A lot of their visits lately have been of the one day variety so the kids were thrilled to have them here for so long to play board games, go for walks and just generally be available to be sat upon.




Easiest Christmas Ever
This was the nicest, easiest, and most stress free holiday we've ever enjoyed. For the first time in many years we didn't go anywhere Christmas day and instead everyone came to us. Dinner came together pretty dang easy in large part thanks to Auntie Mel and Michael. Maya even ate it in her jammies.




Surprise Gift!
For me, I got an ice cream maker!! What?! I have been coveting one for quite some time, but Mike has always poo pooed the idea. He claims that I have too many kitchen gadgets that I don't use, which is completely untrue. I am not a kitchen gadget junkie by any stretch of the imagination. There are no slap chops in my kitchen. I can't wait to make my first batch of ice cream. Kind of surprised I haven't yet? Yeah, I was that sick.

Board Game of Christmas
Blokus! I'd never really heard of it before this year, but we picked it up to take advantage of Zellers buy one get one free board game deal they had on before Christmas. Mom had three games in the buggy and me on the phone trying to pick another one since it would be free. Board games are always a big Christmas present for me because I know they give much more back than another polly pocket. This one was a hit across all ages groups. I could see it generating a lot of trash talk if we were to pull it out for game night with adult friends.

Less is More and it's the Thought That Counts Christmas
Epic! Really! Well Mike and I thought it was anyway. That is a picture of our tree after Santa had been and the kids presents from Mike and I were under there. The stockings were by the coffee table. That was it and the kids were happy with what they got.




Cool Gift of Christmas
Goes to Auntie Mel and Uncle Dave. They gifted the kids with needle felting kits, each in their own storage boxes. It was so cute to see them both go back to their projects again and again Christmas day, tucked up beside Auntie Mel and her needle felting, of course. Maya is an absolute weapon, she needle felts at about 90 miles an hour and very rarely looks at what her hands are doing. I'm not quite sure how she didn't stab herself.




Gift with the most pressure
I got a gift card and some cash with instructions to spend them on myself. Easier said then done, when it comes to me. Yesterday I forced myself to take advantage of the great deals at Old Navy online and picked out some clothes for myself. Can't wait for my cardis, khakis, skirt, tops and black "dressy" lounge pants to get here. I also checked the deals and picked up a new camera to replace my current cranky camera. Gosh it is super small though. I'm afraid of dropping it, but excited I can pop it in my pocket. Of course now I gotta get over the guilt I have over spending so much money on myself yesterday. Oy.

There was more to Christmas, of course. Dinners with family... so much delicious food. Church with loved ones. Tea and coffee and chocolate. Gifts received and gifts given. Joy and laughter and coughing. So much coughing. I can only hope that your Christmas was just as wonderful.

winning

At some point this morning Mike and Abby crossed paths in the kitchen and had the following conversation....

Abby: You know what my favourite part of Christmas was?
Mike: What?
Abby: Spending time with my family. You know, it's not about the presents Dad.

So I think we can declare this year's theme of less is more and it's the thought that counts a complete success.