We Lived

Well, I made it through Christmas with relatively little pain. Everyone was happy. Santa comes a day early to our house, so we spend actual Christmas day in sweats and never left the house. The girls got new cameras lots of great pictures. My camcorder died that morning so I have no video. Unfortunately Santa had already gone and it was too late to ask for a new one. He did, however, leave me this:

http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktopdisplays/lcddisplays/xseries/vx2235wm/

It is beautiful.

Bah Humbug

Just got done with the in-laws Christmas (party). I love my in-laws. They are everything my last set of in-laws weren't, and thankfully, are not everything my last set of in-laws were. This year was a doozy. My husband, the lone success story, has a couple brothers. The youngest has a 20 year old wife (he's mid-thirties) and a 9 year old daughter but a woman who's in close contact with children's services - constantly. This year the youngest brother is drunk, argumentative with everyone, combative, and obviously on something stronger than the pot he's usually smoking. He. Talked. Like. This. The. Whole. Night. By the end of the night I was falling asleep mid-sentence. He called me stupid, he told his mother she had no idea what she was talking about, and just generally made an ass of himself. Then he and his wife (who'd also been drinking) loaded up the 9 year old and went home. To their pit bull. Who is, apparently, the best family dog they could ever have. It's enough to make me want to drink. This is why I love the holidays.

Merry Christmas!

Here Comes Santa Clause

One of the presents I got for Dan was a new electric razor. He's been using the same Braun since I've known him (four years now?). I'm hoping he'll like it.

I have two people left on my list. My mom and my grandma. I wanted to get my mom Cold Case on DVD, but apparently they have not released it and are not going to anytime soon. So, that's the only hard thing left.

And I have everything wrapped. I always give everyone a paper and then don't put names on the presents. I enjoy them trying to figure out what belongs to who by the shape of the box and they always forget that everyone gets the same paper for everything.

The Tree is Up

Last weekend we got the tree up. By 'we', I mean the three kids. They worked together to unpack, build, and decorate it themselves. The bottom of it has colored lights, the top has white. There are three ornaments on most of the branches. I reduced myself to picture-taker and really let them run the show.

I've never been so proud.

In Some Serious Need of Professional Help

I've been trying to finish my Christmas shopping plans tonight. I bought a few things online and am trying to nail down the rest. Taking a break, I did a search on blogger for "myhometown, mystate" - and OMG! Not surprisingly it came back with a plethora of people bragging about things like 'only getting 5 days in jail' and 'I have EIGHT tattoos'. Seriously. That. Is. My. Town.

I don't know which is worse: the fact that I am not surprised or the fact that I bothered to look.

A First

We got a Christmas card from a longtime friend of the Man in this house. The card was signed www.wifeandhusband.com (names have been withheld for my protection). Nothing else. Just an ad for their website. They aren't even techies (which then I would understand).

I feel Spammed.

Where Have you Been all my Life?

It's been a little hectic here the last week. Updates have been a long time coming, but I promise I haven't run out of life, just time. Here's the short list, more details on them later.. I hope.

1 . We had our end of year award banquet for the horses. We came home with trophies, plaques, and best of all.... my boy won his first belt buckle. That's a big deal! Hopefully I'll get a pic up soon.

2. My mom and I are not speaking. She blew us on off award night so she could watch my sister ride her horse... as if she couldn't do that any other time. I'm extremely disappointed in her. I'm used to her blowing me off, but these are her only grandkids. It'll be a while before I get over it. She doesn't think she did anything wrong. Both of my biological parents are a disappointment and I don't even expect much from them.

3. Went to Chicago on Tuesday for the SES Conference. In a word - awesome! We got Wednesday off to recover. I slept most of the day.

4. That brings us to today. Here is what you come for. Hick Christmas tales... I saw a yard today that was smaller than my porch. It had three giant Christmas inflatables in it. Two of them were laying over into the street because the people were too lazy to anchor them right - or perhaps they ran out of grass. Classic.

Why I Hate the Holidays

Today is what? The 11th of November. A full 11 days past Halloween and yet I still see Halloween decorations everywhere. Not just pumpkins. I've seen the giant snow globes in yards, fake cobwebs, skeletons, plastic pumpkins, witches...the whole nine yards. And then there are the over-achievers. Turkeys and pilgrims -- when did Thanksgiving become a decorating holiday? Even so, what is with Christmas already? I like lights and all, but give it a chance to snow first!

I should add that in my town it is not considered tacky to leave up lights all year -- and leave them on. A few certain houses have Merry Christmas spelled out in lights with the help of a staple gun - at least one house has it spelled wrong. I'm certainly not one to begrudge someone the thrill of decorating, but let's get some priorities straight. If you have a yard full of trash and a house with broken windows you do not get to decorate the outside. Ever.