Love the Lights

I love Christmas (which is a new change for me).  Don't get me started on holidays and why I didn't use to enjoy them...

Besides being able to focus on Jesus being born, I love Christmas lights!  I think they can be a bright spot in darkness.

I recently visited some of my family in southern Indiana and took some pictures of their lights.  In fact, my aunt got nervous and came out looking for me in her car.  Thank goodness, it's a small town!

Presents!

I wrote a book!  I also made a "John Deere" scarf for my nephew.

While the book has to be previewed first (apparently certain things scare my nephew), I am hoping he will love the scarf.

He always asks about it when he's on the phone with me.  In fact, it's the FIRST thing he asks for.  Kind of sweet!

Favorite present?

Pizza made with a great present...

A digital food scale which doubles as a measuring cup!

My sister rocks!  She picked out a great present.  A digital food scale.  Excited to embark using this scale and monitoring my food choices better and using recipes that use different measuring scales.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday photos....

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are a blur for me.  They consist of painting.  And painting.  And painting.  Ugh...I'm finally done (but getting ready to go to Ikea, so final pictures will come later).

I'm so tired of stuff being everywhere!!!

Did I keep it this way???  You'll see!

Santa's reindeer!!!

The deer that came through my mom's backyard...there were eight of them!

I think they are looking for Rudolph or Santa...by the way, every time I type Santa, I type Satan first...hmmmm.

My sister opening up the wrapping of her blanket (which was hidden in my car).

Me opening my brother-in-law's gift...it was a prank wrapped in  duct tape.

My sister and her bowl.  It's red (her favorite color), from Target (her favorite store), and on clearance for 49 cents (she loves clearance!).  Yay!

Traditions

I took a photo of the stocking that I've had since I can remember.  D, does it look familiar?  :)

When I was watching my friend's kids, I noticed her stocking...it looked just like mine!

I stayed at my mom's house Christmas Eve, knowing that my stocking was empty Christmas Eve and would contain pears and lottery tickets the next morning.

Don't ask about sleeping on the couch in the basement.  My sister's dog woke me up several times and her clicking nails on the laminate floor in the morning wasn't great either, but it was wonderful to wake up and enjoy Christmas morning with my family.

Caught my eye

What was I doing the day before Christmas Eve?  Shopping!!!

I was picking up a calendar for my mom's friend and out of the corner of my eye, I spy...

this amazing bag!

Don't worry, there's a reason why I paid what I paid for it.  But more about that later...