As Christmas Is Upon Us....A Few Pictures Around Our House

It's hard to believe that tomorrow night is Christmas Eve and then it's Christmas! It seems like here at our house with the preparations beginning in late September, it makes the anticipation and wait even longer! So, all that we have prepared for, decorated for, shopped for and wrapped for is here and we are READY, READY, READY!

Unfortunately, Tim spent most of the entire weekend holed up in his editing room working on our Christmas newsletter so we can maybe get our Christmas cards out, if not before Christmas, still within the same week!

For some reason, I decided to torture myself with 3 trips to two different malls on the worst weekend of the year! Starting with a quickie trip to Greentree Mall Thursday night after work to scope out the Hallmark store, check their hours for the day after Christmas, use my $7 rewards coupon, use my free $10 coupon at JC Penneys and buy a new pair of sunglasses (do you know just how hard they are to find in December?), I found myself then dashing over to Mall St. Matthew's in Louisville Friday morning to hunt for more cute Christmas sweaters at the JC Penneys there and get my wedding rings inspected at the jewelry store (always a June and December errand!). Decided to pick up some last minute presents for Tim which then resulted in another trip back to Greentree Saturday with mom to return those that were the wrong size! (He's gotten really good about being able to try things on for me with his eyes closed!) Oh well, it's kinda fun to be amongst the last minute shoppers....and with 60 degree weather, it made the traffic and register lines tolerable.

Friday afternoon, Mom and I visited Dottie at her adorable house in Clarksville and as a bonus got to ooh and aah at her neighbor Anna's house too! How fun!

A quick run to Wal Mart and Meijer for some last minute groceries today, vacuuming and baking chocolate chip cookies tonight and I am almost ready for our Christmas Eve celebration. Mom's bringing a ham to bake and she's worked hard all day making lots of side dishes which I picked up on my way back from Wal Mart. A little cooking to do still in the morning and my aunt and uncle we arrive around 4pm for our family Christmas together.

Our house looks like Christmas exploded somewhere along the way and I always dread the mess and aftermath but trying to still stay jolly and thankful for all the blessings we have and that Tim and I will be celebrating our EIGHTH Christmas together! With Mom retired this year, she's also been able to enjoy the season more and we've had fun baking and shopping together!

So, Merry Christmas to you and yours from my little corner in Smirleyworld!