Christmas 2012

The anticipation is over. The packages have all been ripped open, the big man in red made a stop, and we ate WAY too much!

White Christmas!! The snow was lovely for Christmas, and we were thankful for the moisture, but man oh man the wind was brutal.

Christmas Eve is very special for my family.  Since the year my parents were married, and had to divide holiday time among their families, they had Christmas Eve dinner with my grandmother, my momma's mom. It was ALWAYS with her. We would eat dinner and then we opened up our packages from her. She has passed away, but that tradition was handed down to ME, and I love it.
We always go to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at a  teeny tiny beautiful little church a few miles away. This year, we left Danny at home, half passed out, half hanging off the couch. Who gets sick on Christmas Eve?? A sore throat, bad headache, and probably a high fever, but he refused to let me take his temperature. T has been sick too, for over a week now, but all that is left of his is a nasty, 3 pack a day smoker sounding cough. It is now better, but I was dosing up Nyquil like a bartender passing out shots for the 2 of them.  Sick and Christmas should just never go together.

After church, I send out a massive text message, telling everyone we are leaving, and everyone heads to the house, where we feast. My sister was VERY concerned about Danny, when he didn't take part in their "how many plates are you on?" contest. He was sick sick SICK, and didn't even get a plate of food down.

At 1:15am, Santa arrived.  At 2, I decided I couldn't sleep, and headed down to take a hot bath. Weird and random, I know, but any time I am sick, or can't sleep, I obsessively bathe.  (T is the same way.  One day last week, during the peak of the sickness, he took a bath 5 times before I told him his poor skin probably couldn't stand another one. We understand each other when the rest of our family thinks we are a bit kooky. hehe)  Anyway, there was already a kid passed out on the couch, Santa gift already inspected.

 Jacob was thrilled to FINALLY have his own hunting rifle.  His parents were thrilled to finally have the gift successfully delivered, after issue after issue with finding what we wanted. We finally found a dealer in a neighboring town that had *1* of what we wanted,  left in stock.   By the way...did you know you can't find bullets in stock right now? Every time we would ask, we were met with the same "good luck" with a chuckle that I started to compare to fingernails on a chalk board.   My sister in law finally found a box on her way to her parents, with the price 2 times higher than what they should be.

Tristen is in L.O.V.E with an electric drum set he got and hasn't left his room much. Did I mention it uses ear buds?? Oh yes...the drummer moms dream come TRUE!!  I must admit this contraption is very slick, and does some really neat things. He also was thrilled with some origami paper, light up drum sticks, and a Duck Dynasty hoodie.  I had looked for Duck Dynasty stuff in Wichita, thinking as popular as it is, it would be pretty easy to find something. It wasn't. I finally found this hoodie in Tractor Supply of all places, in Dodge City.  It made Tristen Happy, Happy, Happy!

Tristen has already made several very cool things with his paper, including these sailboats.

I was shocked when I opened a gift from my parents. They bought me a new camera.  The funny part is is that it is the same camera I have had for the past 3 years, just a step up and newer model, so I don't have to spend months figuring it out. It has a bigger screen, and a few new features, but is works all the same.  My old camera was quickly checking out, with parts of the case falling off, the zoom lens cover literally fell off in my purse one day, (The tube part that comes out when you zoom in. Not the lens cap cover.)  and the battery compartment is broken and held together with duct tape. Though cuter, zebra print duct tape doesn't really make something seem any less redneck. HA! So maybe there will be more pictures on my blog now.

This year I gave several homemade gifts.   I filled a canning jar with nail polishes, polish remover, files, covered the lid in cute fabric and added some ric-rac around the band and gave to some of my favorite girls. They turned out really cute! I also made crayon rolls for my little nieces and nephews. I am teaching my self to sew on a sewing machine..very slowly!!..but I discovered there is something so relaxing about the hum of a sewing machine. It became one of my favorite things to do. I'd sneak upstairs, turn on the Christmas music on the TV, add my favorite scent in my Scentsy warmer, and just sew.  They turned out adorable.

Crayon rolls! =)  I also made on for my nephew, Connor, but his was dinosaurs and red fabrics.

The strangest gift we gave this year.

Tristen and I cut out a TON of sugar cookies Sunday night. This is something HE wanted to do this year.  They turned out YUMMY!

This Christmas felt different, so many different reasons, but I guess some years are just going to be like that. It doesn't make them any less special, or take away from what Christmas is about.  Sometimes, you just go with it.

This is an envelope sent from my mother in law. It  was slit open, and 3 out of 4 cards she put in are missing.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! 364 more days until we get to do it all again! =)