Christmas Morning ...

Christmas Eve Eve ...

We usually do our Christmas stuff on Christmas Eve because my kids do Christmas with their dad's family on Christmas Day.  This year BabyBrother (firefighter) has to work Christmas Eve so we did our Christmas stuff at my parents' today.  (BabyBrother swapped a lot of shifts to get Christmas off when his kids were little so now he works it every year to let the one that have little kids now be off).

And BabyGurl had to go in at 3:00 today, so we had an early lunch (about 11:30)

So here's how things went today .....

Gabbie is the only little kid now, and she just goes with the flow.  Next year she will really 'understand' and be 'in control' of how and when we do things for Christmas.

So Ma and Pa were gonna let everyone open gifts before eating lunch and the four grandkids all hollered (jovially) "Nooooooooooooooooooooooo, when we were little we always had to eat first and the grownups would go back for seconds to torture us!"

So we ate.  Six of us could get at the table, and a few went to the living room.  Somehow this is where BoyChild ended up.  We teased him .... a lot!

It seemed only fitting though since he was the biggest protester about eating first instead of doing gifts first.  

We mostly dont do gifts except for Gabbie, and of course I do for my kids and BabyBrother does for his kids and my Mom and Dad do (cash) for all of us.  But the adults dont exchange gifts amongst themselves.  

So here are a few pics of the 'after lunch' activities.  As you will see, they are mostly of Gabbie.  BoyChild and DIL did bring one each of their gifts to give each other b/c one of the things I was giving DIL went with her gift BoyChild was giving her, so she needed the 'big' gift from him before getting my accessories.  

Ok, let's get this show on the road.

Look Mom!  New boots!

(And no, Aunt Paula did not get these, her Pop and her Uncle Hudu did)

PawPaw, let me help you, I am really good at this!

Pics of the wedding.

Oh, another one for me? :-)

A puzzle from BabyGurl

Ok, that's nice, any more over there for me? 

A book and a drawing board.  I like it!

Mommy, you can play with it while I go look for more presents!

Here, let me help you with that.  You're obviously not 

as experienced as I am, you're doing it too slow!

A few other random shots from the day:

She changed her fuzzy slippers for my sparkly flip flops.

(The girl has taste!)

Smiling (yes that is a smile!)

She loves to talk on the phone.  BoyChild called her from his cell phone, sitting in the chair next to her. When we asked who she was talking to, she just turned and pointed at him.

(Ok, it was kind of a 'you had to be there' moment, but it was really funny).

I kinda made out like a bandit this year too.  

From BoyChild and DIL.

(I had to put it together after I got home)

I told them they can get me something to go in it for my birthday! 

BabyGurl made me this mirror

(It is VERY hard to photograph a mirror!)

BabyGurl and her b/f got me this.  

(I'll be the envy of the office!)

So our Christmas is all done now except for Gabbie's Santa stuff Sunday morning.

I'll update you (and inundate you with more pics) after that! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

"Christmas Corner"

Kelly's Korner is having her 'Show Us Your Life' series this week featuring Christmas decorations.

The Nester is having a Tour of Homes as well.

Since there's just me (and sometimes BabyGurl) in the house, and I don't get visitors, I don't do a whole lot, but this year I decked out one corner, and we put up BabyGurl's village.

I had to get a little creative because the shelves that the village are on are open into the kitchen and my kitchen is a mess!  So I put some of the felt/glitter snow on some posterboard and stapled it to the back of the shelves.  Turned out pretty good I think!

I'll share my Christmas Corner with you via this little video .....

And a few pictures of the rest .....

The church in the middle of the village is actually a birdhouse that 

belongs to my aunt (my daddy's sister) who is now in a nursing home. 

The angel on top of the tree is the one that always topped 

my Nannie's tree (my mother's mother).  

My Nannie died in August 1990.

Even when Nannie was using her, she had to add pins to her back to hold her wings up.  I think this might have actually been made by one of the grandkids somewhere along the way, but I have no idea which one.  I am the oldest (50) and the youngest is 33, so this angel has a few years on her.  

This wooden reindeer was also my Nannie's.  Underneath those pine cones (the same pine cones that were in it when I got it) there is also a 'pet rock' belonging to one of the grandkids.  Again, I have no idea which one.

We'll be having our big family feast on Friday the 23rd, the day before Christmas Eve.  

BabyBrother is a firefighter and he has to work Christmas Eve.  

My kids and BabyBrother's kids both have to deal with 'the other side of the families' on Christmas Day.  

And in case you missed it in a previous post .....

My Christmas Elf

And a tiny bit of decorating at the office:

(That's my co-worker's bamboo peeping over the top of the cubicle wall)

And of course my favorite ... my pink tree!

Seriously, Do They Make 'Em Any Cuter Than This One??

This is my weekend to have The Gabster.  By time I got her last night and fed her it was nearly time for bed.  We read a few books, and cut her fingernails (this is my chore and believe me my dad reminds me if I forget!) and then off to bed.  She goes to bed around 8:00 - 8:30 so I have a little time to wind down and read my own books before bed.

Today we played and played and played and played .... I should've made some pics of her crawling in her 'tunnels' (kinda like the play/crawl things at Chic-Fil-A minus the climbing part).  These are collapsable and take about five minutes to set up and take down.  They take more room than I have though so we only put about four of the pieces together.

So, then later she was playing with her glasses ..... and I got a couple of good pics.

Little Miss Hollywood

Then she took a nap and woke up with a severe case of bedhead!

Then we went out to eat with my parents.  

This is her second cob of corn.

She was so busy people watching, she didn't have 

a lot of interest in eating (except the corn). 

When we got home she got her bath and 

got on her pj's and combed her hair. 

Checking the mirror to make sure she looks good. 

A few story books and two glasses of milk later, she is now snoozing again.  

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this little person? 

What Are You Reading?

Still loving my Nook I got several months ago.  Really loving checking out library books for it.  I've had it since April and I think I've bought three books for 99 cents each.  Otherwise I've read free books from the B&N site, and library books.  The library's selection of ebooks is getting larger every day.

I've read tons of authors I might never have found but for searching 'free' on the B&N site, and 'mystery' on the library site.

Here's a few I've really liked:

July Hyzy -- She has two series that I've read (or am reading); Manor House Mysteries, and White House Chef Mysteries.  Manor House has only two books (I hope there will be more to come, they are great).   White House Chef has five.  I've read two and have a third one checked out now.  She also has some other books I haven't had a chance to read yet.

John Lescroart -- I have read two of his books and am on the third.  I can't put them down.  He has a series featuring an attorney named Dismas Hardy.  These are really well written books and I never know how it's going to end until I get to the end.  There are many recurring characters in the books.  I've had to read them a bit out of order due to library availability, but it hasn't affected the plot of the book any (the most noticeable thing so far is that in the book I'm reading now Hardy's kids are infant/toddler, and in the first book I read they were teenagers.)

 Carolyn Hart -- She has several series, but so far I've only read the Bailey Ruth Raeburn books.  Mystery, but light and funny.  Bailey Ruth is a well intentioned, but sometimes over-eager ghost who comes back to her hometown to help folks who are in trouble.  Very fun reading.

I have the "1st generation" Nook.  I love it.  I'm thinking of getting my mom the new Nook Simple Touch for Christmas.  If she decided she doesn't like it, I'll use it myself.  But I think she'll like it.  (Now, if I could just afford to get my dad an iPad!)

So ..... what do you recommend for my reading pleasure??