Some Randomness on Christmas Eve

As we get ready to head down to my parents' house for Christmas Eve brunch, I've got some random thoughts running through my head...

~ Sometimes you have to scratch an original plan (as good as it was to begin with!) because you are running out of time and energy to accomplish the plan. Case in point: We had great plans to make those beautiful, flower-covered ornaments (we always make homemade ornaments to give to all of our family members), but last night the plan became making foam ornaments from a kit. The girls made snowmen, and candy canes, and snowflakes from a kit I found at the drugstore for $1.00 each. And guess what? They loved doing them. And they loved them more than I think they would have loved the ornaments I originally had planned. No, they don't look like Martha Stewart-inspired decorations, but they do look handmade and made with love.

~ I really love spending the time it takes to find that perfect gift for those special family members and friends. I do not like having to look for last-minute gifts to extended family members that "just might show up" at a Christmas event.

~ Yesterday, I helped my niece Lori make some homemade treats for her boyfriend. We had so much fun in the kitchen and ended up with some really yummy goodies. Butterscotch haystacks. Toffee saltine squares. Chocolate chip cookies. Sprinkled sugar cookies. And, yes, there were lots of extras leftover for us. And, yes, I've been eating way too many of them.
~ It's good to have a husband on vacation from work. Gary got up Monday and yesterday morning and trimmed hedges, cut down a dead tree in our yard, and did random fixer-upper activities. And I didn't even have to ask him to do any of it.

~ I managed to get two more gifts for Gary under the tree. But he's still got me beat my three gifts. Ugh.

~ I was officially a "Bad Mom" this Christmas because I let the entire season go by and Sydney never went to see Santa Claus. She hadn't written a letter to him either. So, yesterday afternoon, we sat down and wrote a letter with her. She signed it and we put it in an envelope with "Express Delivery" requested on it. I told her that the express service would get her letter to Santa on time. (The only bad thing about waiting until Christmas Eve Eve to write a letter to Santa--well, aside from the fact that I hadn't let her see him beforehand--is that she can surprise you with gifts she requests that you've never heard of. I told her that Santa would pick out what she thought she needed most.)

~ I'm so looking forward to all the family time we will have today. Brunch with my parents, brother and sister-in-law, and nephews. Dinner later tonight with Gary's parents, sister and brother-in-law, niece and nephew, and other assorted family members. Good food. Fun presents. Hoping also that the stress of going from place-to-place stays at a minimum.

~ I'm hoping that we can manage to make it to our church's Christmas Eve Candlelight and Communion Service late tonight. It would certainly keep things in perspective. (Perhaps we can manage it, if everyone is not already dead-on-their-feet.)

~ Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!