All Christmas'd up

...
Today is the 6th anniversary of my dad' s death. I was kind of weepy and grouchy all day, but still managed to get so much done.

I had been putting off getting the tree up and all that until I did something about the kids' toys in the family room. I finally just dumped out all the stuff from the 2 big toy boxes and sorted everything out into different size boxes. The smaller shoe boxes went into one of the cupboards; the bigger boxes and a few larger toys went into a low bookcase I brought back in from the garage, where I had exiled it from its former home in the kitchen last summer.

The family room looks great now, the kids can see all their toys and they are nicely contained. Hopefully they can keep it up -- they know that it's not my job to do it, and now they can easily see where everything is supposed to go. To anyone thinking of just getting a huge box to toss everything into: don't, because then they won't know what they've got, unless they dump everything out, and that just makes a huge mess!

Last night I was in some kind of mood because I went to 4:30 mass and as I was flying out the door I told DH that he was responsible for deciding what we were going to have for dinner... mass was nice, and I was about a block from home when my cell phone rings, and it's my DH asking me about dinner! Arg -- anyways, he decided to make the kids burgers (they had originally asked for steak, but he didn't think to take them from the freezer and get them defrosting in the microwave -- ) which was fine. I had a glass of wine and ate the kid's leavings -- Ry only ate a quarter of a burger, Dana only half her hot-dog... if I had just stopped there I would've been OK, but then I ate about 16 (bite-size) chocolate chip cookies from Trader Joe's. At least they're made with whole wheat flour and no trans fats...eeep!

So, anyway, today -- slept a little late (after getting up early on Sat and making pancakes and bacon for breakfast) and then puttered around for a while. DH brought all the tree stuff in, and we tried something new and rearranged the living room furniture a little so now the tree is right in front of the picture window and we can actually use the sofa! Yay! We used to just put the tree where the coffee table usually is, but that basically blocked the couch completely. The new arrangement was a bit of a hassle but it really does work.

DH helped unfold all the branches while he watched football, and the little ones all ran back and forth between me and Daddy, carrying me the branches to put on the tree trunk. That went as quickly as it ever has, but then the lights were really a pain in the butt. I had to run out to Walgreen's to buy some new ones, but those old lights really deserved to be put out to pasture -- they were about 10 years old.

It's always cool to remember everyone in my past as I put up all the ornaments. So many people I don't see anymore for one reason or another have given me ornaments. It's one of my favorite things about Christmas, thinking about all the people I've been blessed to know.

We got takeout from Joe's Real BBQ for dinner and I took the 2 littler ones, and we listened to Christmas music in the car and looked at all the lights. Folks around generally go a bit crazy with the Christmas lights. It's easy to do, since the weather is so mild. Seriously, though, I was choking up on every song. There are a few that always get me, but "Sleigh Ride" is not usually one of them! I can only guess it's because of the day, or maybe TOM...

In a fit of insanity I got 2 slices of lemon cake with our bbq -- they make this awesome lemon cake and then they poke holes in it and pour a lemon glaze over it while it's still warm, so it's wonderfully moist and has a lemonade-y taste. It's really outstanding and I need to make a LC recipe for it. Anyway, I thought the kids, especially DD, would enjoy it, even though they don't like regular cake. This isn't a regular cake, though, and they do all like lemon flavored things.

Of course not one of them would eat it, so I ended up eating ONE entire HUGE piece myself, which I had originally cut into 4 small servings. oink oink oink

Stupid me... I have another piece sitting there calling my name. DH picks today to decide to be scrupulously low-carb again, so he's no help. I'm glad, though, it's good for him.

Now the last thing to do is wrap, pack, and ship, and God only knows when I'll get to that. Tomorrow morning is absolutely packed: 8:15 Mass, 9:30 gyn post-op appointment, 10:20 teeth cleaning... I'm going to be ready to drop by lunch! I have decided I don't care if stuff gets there by Christmas or not. It's simply not worth sweating it, IMO. I have one more package to come from Amazon, hopefully it will come this week, as there is some stuff in there for my nieces in CT, but otherwise, I'm all set. I should be able to get everything else out in the next couple of days if nothing blows up in my face!

Oops, just remembered I have to make the playdough for DD's preschool class tonight -- I'm off!