Santa better get a move on!!

Sometimes by the time I sit down at night, emotions have run pretty high and all of us are too tired and not on our best behavior. It makes it difficult to see clearly the journey we are on and instead just finds me exhausted, doubting myself, and wanting a good night's sleep.

So today is my first day of vacation and the first day that I do not have any Christmas parties planned, that I am in charge of, and my girls have had a good night's sleep too! Plus they let me sleep late. I cannot believe how late I can sleep sometimes! I think I go way too hard and fast and finally give up. I am so glad I have stayed well though as usually by this time I would have had bronchitis a few times. I've only minor colds/sinus problems, which with a short break, have easily recovered from.

Last week was a whirlwind of activity along with the good (?) stress of trying to plan what Santa would have in his bag. I think I wrote last Sunday about our Christmas party on Monday for our older adults and then on Thursday we had another and on Friday we had our volunteer party. That is a lot of parties and a lot of people. Rough estimate is close to 500 for all of the fun! Plus, no offense to anyone, but older people are a rough crowd! I recognize for some this is their only "Christmas" party and I want them to have fun!!! In spite of themselves!

Any of my older friends know I am not talking about them :)!

But I have said that I can never get everything quite right for them: the coffee is too hot, too cold, too strong, too weak. The sugar is too sweet, not sweet enough. The room is too hot, too cold, too many people, not enough people. You get the idea and the list can go on and on!

But I feel a strong dedication to serving this group. I recognize the contributions they have made, that their lives have been hard, that they are lonely, they are sick, they are facing the future and the unknown is difficult. I love the heritage they bring and the triumphs, as well as the failures they have experienced. Almost all have lived through circumstances similar to what my girls have had in their early years and seeing their success through such trials gives me great hope of the future for all.

They were so sweet about missing my girls for the party. One year Grace, Gillian, and Darcey got to come to the parties and my newly adopted Grace showed what a ham should could be, grabbing the microphone and singing a solo of "Feliz Navidad"! She was in ESL at the time and that was what they taught her.

It's difficult, to say the least, to separate my personal life from my job. When I went to the grocery store on Saturday (no makeup, lovely outfit, and crazy hair) I ran into so many who wished us all a great holiday and hoping my new daughter, now what is her name again?, a great first Christmas!

So now back to what I was typing last night -

Tonight I was standing there holding a plate full of octopus, while I loaded the second one with crawfish, and thought about what a funny picture it must have been!

Lately by the time I sit down at night I fall asleep before I can get anything written, so I will be playing a bit of catch up.

Today was the first day the girls were out of school for the holidays. It was so cold last night and this morning and somehow neither girl had on their warmest pajamas. Actually they were dressed more for a tropical island! So needless to say they woke up cold. I was trying my best to get out of the house and about that time Annabel announces she does not have any jeans to wear.

I asked if she could please find something else. We have had so many clothes given to her lately, I mean box after box, that is it hard to believe she can't find something to wear. I asked Grace to help also, because I REALLY had to get to work. Instead Annabel just cried. I am SO thankful to have Mom and Dad next door. Mom came over and made everything right. She dried the jeans, let them scramble their eggs, and even had bacon!

The girls came to our bingo game. Yes, that's what I do for a living, bingo games.

Just kidding!

A long time ago we started having bingo trying to get some of the older adults out and socializing and it has been a hit ever since. And it has been a HUGE hit with my girls whenever they have a Monday off!

When I walked in I recognized that Annabel still was wearing her pajama top, but with her jeans. Oh well!! She was cold and decided to just keep that on I guess.

Both girls got great boots from Mom and Dad for Christmas. I am so glad they gave them early. I don't think either girl has taken them off since they got them Saturday. Actually Annabel told me they were her house shoes.

Saturday morning Mom came over to see if a miracle had happened over night. I had written that I cooked, cleaned, wrapped presents, and was just waiting for Christmas. Of course I was still in my pajamas at that point and you had to step over the stuff in the floor, clear off a place on the counter to pour a cup of coffee, and girls were still looking for breakfast!

It is amazing how much you can accomplish in just one day.

I had committed to preparing meals for two families with new babies, had invited our family over for a Christmas party, and needed to clean house badly!

With the great help I got from my girls everything came together!

It was so nice to have everyone at our house for a family get together. Thanks to Marcie for posting pictures of our party.

Annabel was the belle of the ball for our party. She was so wound up and dancing and working her neck, and giggling and laughing. She had asked me if "the boys" were coming to the party. I asked if she meant Marcie's boy, Drew (her husband) and Emily's boyfriend, Alex. Yep, that would be the boys!!

I had bought enough little gifts to do the white elephant gift exchange, or as my office calls it, the mean Santa game.

Some of the presents came wrapped and Annabel had helped make the bows. Two of the gifts were little bears that Grace and Annabel begged for earlier in the week at the grocery store.

When the game started, Annabel went for one of the wrapped packages and ended up with a mini radio. I wanted her to have the bear, so on my turn I took her radio. But she enjoyed unwrapping so she took another one of those wrapped gifts. This time it was a head light thingie. Dad took it so she got to choose another. This time the game was almost over, so she ended up with a travel alarm clock. She never would take the gift bag with the bear!! And believe it or not, an 11 year old does not want a travel alarm clock for a gift! Finally she convinced Drew to switch her clock for his puzzle. He generously traded with her.

Marcie, Martha, and Mom all had presents for everyone.

It wasn't until that moment did I realize I had not bought presents!! I cannot believe how buying gifts for my family slipped my mind! I was so embarrassed. I also have very little for Mom and Dad. I used to always buy them something fairly nice. This time I think Mom got new house shoes and Dad didn't get much more than that! Plus when I look at the Santa gifts I am concerned I don't have enough.

My first Christmas as a Mom, I thought I should set a limit and only spend that much. That's the way Mom and Dad always did it. That limit wasn't nearly high enough to Jana. She supplemented what I had bought, with gifts she had bought for her girls, despite the fact she did not have any money to even buy gifts with!

This year though Christmas will get dragged out quite a bit waiting on Gillian and Darcey to come, so I hope by the time it is all over the girls will have plenty. It is a LOT less than Grace has gotten the year's before, but I tried to find things that the 2 could play with together.

Back to the plates of crawfish and octopus, I have subscribed to a program that notifies you of leftover tickets that you can buy cheaply. They had tickets for the Christmas light show in Grand Prairie. I had taken my older adults to see it one year and thought the girls would be awed and amazed by it.

I think the crawfish and octopus were more appreciated than the lights! It seemed like it took a long time to see them and both fell asleep!

Oh well!

The girls have gift cards from Limited Too and Toys R Us that are burning a hole in their pocket. I think we are about to brave the mall! Wish us luck!!