Almost Happy New Year!

Here it is........10:35pm on Dec. 31st.......and I'm SLEEPY! I really was going to try to stay awake til midnight, but it's getting doubtful. Let's see, what can I talk about?

Hope everyone had a nice relaxing Christmas. I did. On Christmas Eve, we went to my brother Tom's house. It's terrible to say but that's the only time we all get together. My brother Rick and wife Betty were there also. There just isn't time to really catch up in those few hours. We all had a good time though. I couldn't help but think about all the Christmas Eve's we spent together and apart. We all miss our Mother since she always worried who would call and cancel at the last minute. No one ever did, we were always there. I guess next year the 'get together' will be at my house. Should I just leave the Christmas decorations up this year? At least the house would be decorated.......maybe a little dusty.......but decorated. Just kidding about leaving them up for a whole year. I would like to put all my decorations out one year. Maybe we can start right after Halloween, that should be enough time, don't you think?

We did have a nice Christmas this year. In fact, we had to open some presents on the 26Th after getting home from work. It just took longer to get everything opened this year. The kids were getting tired but wouldn't take a nap. They finally went to bed at 7:00 without any problem. I felt like all I did was eat. I munched on this and munched on that all day really dreading the fact I needed to go to work the next day. But we made it through the week.........

On second thought.........Payton had to have tubes put in her ears on Friday morning at 6:15 a.m. Poor thing wasn't feeling good afterwards. Leigh stopped by the pharmacy to get her medicine and she was out of it. She did throw up in the parking lot before leaving for home. She had a rough night and rough Saturday, but Sunday she started feeling her old self again. Since Leigh had to be at the hospital that early, I took RyLee to daycare Friday morning. He was so excited about riding in my car too. If you know anything about my car, you would wonder why on earth he'd want to ride in my car. But he WAS excited. After work, I picked him up and we went to the shopping center. We had a nice time.

OK, It's 11:00 p.m. now. Where's the popcorn and beer? Just kidding....the Diet Coke! Well, everyone.............HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas......

It better look alot like Christmas, the is December 23rd! Hahahaha Why is it, we all know that Christmas is December 25th each year, but it always gets here too fast. I never get a package mailed to Germany. Not to say there weren't packages mail to Germany. I'm talking about some that I personally shipped over. I remember doing it one year, but it cost more to get it there before Christmas than the gifts were actually worth. That's terrible, isn't it? The last few years I've tried to put money onto their Amazon accounts and let them pick out whatever they wanted. That seemed to work out better. Except this year....... money is a little short for me...... so I can't get that done. I know the kids understand, but I don't. It greives me when I can't do this one little thing for my children. Don't get me wrong, I'm blessed in so many ways, but I do like to 'give' much more than 'receiving'. So, this is for Leigh and Cindy and Gerhard and Christie and Roland............... Merry Christmas to you all. I thank God for giving His only Son to us so we belong to one family. I love each of you. Let us never take Christ out of CHRISTmas. He gave His life for us! Maybe one year we will be able to spend December 25th all together. We haven't done that in a very long time.

I will be off work the 24th and the 25th this year. We will be going to Tom and Jan's house for Christmas Eve. It always goes by so fast too. We will need to get back here so the kids can get into bed......dreaming of sugarplums dancing in their heads. Hey, isn't that a song? Hahahahah Just kidding. Then Leigh will have to do everything else, while I go to bed. hahhaahaha I was going to cook breakfast on Christmas morning since she cooks all the time. We had started that years ago, with the kids cooking my breakfast on Christmas morning, before any presents were openned. Well, maybe the stocking boxes were looked into. And yes, we always have so many stocking stuffers, it all went into boxes instead of stockings. Well, back to breakfast...... Since nobody likes my eggs, I won't cook. Maybe I'll just take over Christie's job and butter the bread for toast. hahahahahah I'm just kidding Christie....... don't cry about it. Of course, this kids were alot older when we started doing that. So, getting RyLee and Payton to sit through breakfast might not happen. hahahahaha

We did start another traditon when my kids got older. We took turns opening presents. One at a time too. Someone gave out all the presents to each other. Then one of us would start with one present and open it and show everyone. Then the next person would open one and show everybody, we'd go around in the circle doing that. A couple of years, it took all day long to open presents. But it seemed to make the day last longer and we all enjoyed it. That was so much fun. Remember ya'll?

Well, I need to get some things done here.....like fix me another cup of coffee. So I'll leave you with this.............

To everyone reading this blog:

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S!