Merry Christmas!

Well, I added this blog to our Christmas cards in hopes that it would be updated more frequently. As Lori pointed out:
"I love how you told people to check out your blog that you haven't updated since November!" So, here ya go, Lori!

It was great to have my parents join us again this year! We all have fun when they come visit. We had a great Christmas with a 5 year old and a 2 1/2 year old. Both Heather and Kailey did very well opening and politely receiving presents. Although Heather was very good, I think Kailey understood the most about Christmas: She frequently remembered to offer a heartfelt thank you to the giver, 'ooo' and 'ahhhed' in the right places, helped hand out gifts to the next opener and played with her new gifts while she waited for the next person to open their gift.

We have always opened our gifts one at a time so that everyone can see what was given and so each gift can be considered a special from the person who gave it. I have been told told by my husband that this slows down the process, but I'm not interested in changing it anytime soon.

Highlights included bristle blocks for Kailey, a comforter for Kailey's bed, and a camera from Santa to Kailey who has been taking random (really, random) shots around the house. Heather got a DS which she asked for, some nice new clothes from Nana and Papa, a doll (that looks very much like her), an umbrella and a guitar from Santa. (The guitar happens to be the guitar Daddy had when he was little and learned to play. That Santa is pretty amazing to have held on to that gift for so long to pass down to Heather!) Bill got me Tahitian Black Pearl earrings and a necklace - VERY pretty and Bill got a new laptop (which will not have snot on it or broken keys).

Next on the list is to clean up some rooms in our house and make room for all our new stuff. It's not like we got many new things we need homes for, it's more like we have lots of old things that need new homes... like homes miles from our house! So, as I have one more week off from school, my self-created job for this week is to clean out some stuff and lessen what we have.

To that end I spend a number of hours yesterday cleaning out and updating our filing cabinet. I did a fairly good job, as much of our paperwork has been reduced by at least a fourth, if not more. This will then allow us to fix up Kailey's old bedroom (which is back to the computer room it was before Kailey was born.) and set up some new computer accessories we got like the 4-in-1 copier/fax, etc we got from my parents.

I'm looking forward to a cleaner house this coming year! As if that could really happen... sigh....

Merry Christmas!