Christmas is Coming.....

..........and the goose ain't the only thing getting fat!   With dear neighbors and friends delivering so many holiday goodies to our door, what's a girl to do?  I feel obligated to try at least one morsel from each delectable offering before turning the kids and hubby loose on the goods.  I may or may not have taken things off the plate and kept them for myself.  I feel bad though - I usually steer clear of desserts and sweets, and I think I've consumed more sugar in the past 2 weeks then I have all year (well, at least since last Christmas.)  This is precisely why I don't bake very often - too much temptation!!

And now my top ten thoughts for today:

1.  In the space of 4 days, Taylor performed in a middle school orchestra concert, a piano recital, and sang 3 songs with the ward choir during the Sacrament Christmas program.  Of course she did fabulous in all of them. Her talents and potential never cease to amaze me.  For her recital she performed Dance of the S.P.F. (that's what her teacher David affectionately calls Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

2.  I'm so done with all this rain we've had since last Friday - and tired of wet doggie paw prints all over my floor.


3.  Poor Mason has been sick all week and I'm just praying he's better by Friday to enjoy Christmas. On Monday, he laid on the couch and slept the ENTIRE day, only waking up for an hour in the afternoon to have a piece of toast, orange juice and a dose of Ibuprofen.  No throwing up thank goodness -  but fever, body aches, sore throat and coughing.  Tanner went to bed tonight with a fever, so I was crazy to think Mason's germs wouldn't pass to any of us.


4.  Stood in line for about 45 minutes tonight to sit on Santa's lap at Bass Pro Shops.  This attraction gets busier every year.  It was nice a few years back when we seemed to be the only ones in town that knew about this delightful little experience.  Tino gets excited every year to see Santa and tell him what he wants, and every year he chickens out at the last second and cries when he gets too close to the strange man in the red suit. I would really like to know what Santa's salary is for sitting in that chair everyday from 10am - 8pm.

5.  While listening to the holiday music on Pandora radio the other night as I put together neighbor gifts, I was blown away by an awesome acapella rendition of Carol of the Bells sung by a group called Barlowgirl.  Never heard of them, but after Googling I discovered they are a trio of women who sing mostly Christian music.  I looked them up on iTunes and all the songs on their Christmas albums are equally amazing.  Go download their version of Carol of the Bells - you can thank me later.

6.  I did a marathon wrapping session late last night and into the very early morning hours.  No I will not tell you exactly how late I was up wrapping, but whatever time you're thinking, add an hour to that.  But I digress........I promised myself I wouldn't leave it all to do Christmas Eve like I've done every year.  I was determined to get it all done and I did, with the exception of a few things I still need to wrap for Andrew.  After only 1 present under our tree for 2 1/2 weeks, the kids were elated this morning to see gifts under the tree.  Of course they instantly started counting to see how many each of them had and Zach is upset that Taylor has more gifts than him.  He also doesn't appreciate my explanation that it's the quality of the presents, not necessarily the quantity.  If he only knew what was in store for him Christmas morning.....

7.  As much as I repeatedly tell the kids the phrase, "if you don't believe, you don't receive,"  I'm pretty sure Taylor knows the truth about Santa.  She has never come out directly and asked or said anything, but I think deep down she knows.  Of course this is not a conversation that I want to have with her, because I think then the magic of her childhood will be gone.

8.  Speaking of which - a week or so ago, Taylor received a flyer in the mail telling her all about YW Girls Camp for next summer.  She was super excited of course.  I just looked at the flyer and a little bit of me died inside, knowing that my daughter is growing up quicker than I'd like.  I can still recall my own camp experiences like they were yesterday..........sitting in a tent in a Texas downpour, soaked to the bone eating raw hot dogs because you can't build a fire while a family of freakish armadillos are only a few feet away from your campsite --- or belting out the lyrics to Wilson Phillips songs with your friends in the wee hours of the morning.  Good times, good times.

9.  It's been a treat checking the mail recently.  The onslaught of Christmas cards have been so much fun to look at and read.  The kids are puzzled when we receive cards from Andrew's friends and the envelope is addressed to 'Drew', thinking that maybe the people forgot the two letters at the beginning of his name or something.  We've received over 40 cards so far, even receiving duplicates from 2 different families!  It got me wondering if I accidentally did the same.  I sent out over 100 this year, so it's very possible. If any of you were the recipients of 2 of our Christmas cards, consider yourselves very lucky indeed! 

10.  I realized I didn't meet my goal of having this house all put together and settled like I mentioned in this post.  So rather than punish myself for yet another goal I didn't meet - instead I'm refocusing and setting a new one, this time for Easter.

Now off to bed I go, hopefully with visions of sugarplums dancing in my head.  Wait, scratch that - better make it carrot sticks instead :)