Finally!

I finally got around to taking the kids' Christmas card picture! I also put up the tree and the kids decorated it. Gene put out The Decoration- a filthy, terribly painted wooden Santa that came with the house and we've put out the past 8 years. I spent hours on Monday assembling a Playmobil Advent calendar. Other than a few things still coming by UPS I have all the kids' presents wrapped and other than some stocking candy (which I WILL eat if I buy now) I'm done shopping :)



I kind of freaked out this year when it came to buying for the kids... Logan's 5th birthday made me realize I'm almost DONE with preschool toys! Also, if Kaylin hadn't asked for the Playmobil princess castle, her main present would have been a digital camera. This will very likely be my last mostly toy Christmas :(

Ugh. I wonder when Kaylin will start wanting CLOTHES? I HATED getting clothes for Christmas! One grandma had a rule toys for birthdays, clothes for Christmas. She always picked the clothes and I was forced to wear them to church where my friends would tease me endlessly. The kitten sweater with pom poms was bad, but the all-time worst was the tan corduroy blazer! I was probably in 8th or 9th grade when I received that gem. I HATED that blazer! My friends compared it to some of our worst dressed teachers and made so much fun of it that I finally took a permanent black marker and scribbled all over it to destroy it. Strangely, I don't remember my mom being too upset. Or possibly destroying The Worst Christmas Present Ever was worth any consequence!

Hmmmmm. Now I'm thinking about awful clothes I wore to church. I wonder if they still make wrap-around skirts? Dumbest. Idea. Ever. Thanks Mom! I owned not just one, but two! That meant almost every week for an entire winter I was subjected to friends untying the skirt and the skirt falling off. Once it blew off in the parking lot and I had to chase it and another time a friend untied it and it nearly dropped off at the Christmas program. I had to stand there and hold it up. Oh, and if I was wearing flowered underwear it was ten times more hilarious. I learned to pick my underwear carefully on Sundays :)