Christmas in a Nutshell

Beginning Saturday the 15th...

Saturday: Anniversary & Present Wrapping

Sunday: Laundry & Kiddo watching for some friends

Monday: More Laundry

Tuesday: Putting Away Laundry

Wednesday: Finishing the last of the Laundry

Thursday: Removing the clean laundry from it's recently put away locations. Packing, lots and lots of packing. Stress and turmoil. Steamers blended mocha to remove stress. Head to church, last minute work that took longer than expected. Getting on the road later than expected. Stuck in traffic. Arrive at families house in St. Helens for a Young family Christmas. Eat dinner. Give presents. Get presents. Lots and lots of presents (my step-mom really likes gift giving!) Stayed the night at Aunt Pam's house. Ditched some of the presents there to lighten the load while traveling. Go to bed pooped!

Friday: Leisurely got ready. Titus opened some birthday gifts from my family members. Mosied to the local Wal-Mart for deodorant (I knew I forgot something! I picked up My Girl for $5... my favorite movie ever too!) Headed up to Black Diamond, WA for an errand with some friends. Stopped at Wal-Mart for a neck heating pad thingy (cramp in the neck) and headed back down to Puyallup to stay with AUNT SUZY! Arrived at Suzy's to Weston and Logan who I've missed terribly (and Suzy, of course). Gave hugs, tickles and smiles. Tried to contain children who were super-excited. Stayed up too late :0) Ended up with Leeann in our bed. She's not fun to sleep with!

Saturday: Hung out at Aunt Suzy's. Met Steve, Heather and Micah for dinner at South Center. Shared a Starbucks. Ended up with both kids in our bed somehow. Even less fun than just having 1. It was on an air mattress too!
Sunday: Went to church in Kent, at Rob's home church. Had lunch with mom and Carmin. Helped clean one of the craft rooms (yes, there is more than one!) Hung out an had a merry time!

Monday: Woke up. Frantically tried to finish a last minute Christmas present that wasn't working out as planned. Wrapped it up just in time to fly out the door for Christmas Eve! Stopped by Wal-Mart for chips to bring to the party at Shelly's (Rob's older sister) and Rob's stocking stuffers. Bad idea. Don't shop on Christmas Eve! Celebrated with Rob's dad, step-mom, siblings and kids. Lot's of cool presents. Lot's of happy kids. $10 gift exchange. I got pistachios! Play card game. Win card game. Stay up late but not too late. Didn't help wrap presents (but I'm not bitter!) Go home happy!

Tuesday: Woke up. Opened stockings and presents with Suzy's family. Got ready. Got kids ready. Finished the second-to-last, last-minute gift. Ran out the door. Went to Rob's mom's. Saw real snow on Christmas! Enjoyed first round of presents. Enjoyed lunch. Enjoyed second round of presents. Finally finished the last last-minute gift that was having technical problems. Played Nerts. Enjoyed dessert. Lost Nerts (uncle Doug gave me a run for my money!). Ate too much, felt sick. Went back to Suzy's. Read the kids the Christmas story and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Figured out how to make sleeping arrangements work so neither of the kids were in bed with us. Slept well!

Wednesday: Up and at em. Went shopping. Bought much anticipated day-after Christmas half price favorite shampoo. Enjoyed time with just Rob, Leeann and Titus. Bought Office Calendar and Anti-Monopoly. Went to Rob's mom's and helped clean the other craft room (I find sick twisted pleasure out of cleaning other people's houses... just not my own!). Left the kid's there... along with 8 others... GRANDKID SLEEPOVER! Went on a date with Chuck and Shelly (did I mention there were NO KIDS?) Ate at Zoopas. Didn't have to feed anyone but myself! Saw National Treasure 2 after minor mix up (threaded the wrong movie... switched theaters. Switched back. Watched 2nd sent of previews, finally started movie 45 minutes after initial show time)! Went to see Chuck's office. Landed at Denny's because like a bunch of high-schoolers we didn't want the night to end! Drove back to Suzy's. Played Anti-Monopoly with Rob for 20 minutes, just to get the hang of it. Finally crashed at 1:00.

Thurday: Got up early to get the kids by 11. Ate yummy french toast :0) Okay, we were there at 11:15. Ate lunch at Shelly's. Played Anti-Monopoly with Rob, Shelly and KayLee for 4.5 hours. Won Anti-Monopoly :0) Ate pizza. Enjoyed time with the Barrios clan. Went back to Suzy's.

Friday: Packed up. Ate more french toast. Headed South. Stopped in St. Helens to pick up the gifts we'd left. Ate lunch and stopped at Wal-mart. Rob decided he had to use the restroom as we were getting into the van at Wal-mart so we stopped at the Starbucks across the street. You can't just use the restroom without patronizing right? Came home. 47 degrees. INSIDE. Unloaded the van. Set up cool Lightning McQueen tent. Unboxed ridiculously over-packaged toys. Rearranged kids' playroom and purged toys to make room for new toys. Cleaned out both kid's closets in an attempt to de-clutter and get organized. Put kids to sleep in new tent and sleeping bag, listening to new CD, worn out from playing with all sorts of cool new toys! Took a bath to unthaw (it was still only 65 degrees after a couple of hours). Read the first chapter of a book on getting organized. Spent way too long blogging what was supposed to be Christmas in a nutshell. Hmmm. Good thing I only do that every once in a while huh :0)?