Just catching up with my Blog!
MERRY CHRISTMAS! The presents are unwrapped, the Lego projects have begun along with playing new video games, and there is a light dusting of Christmas snow outside. We are actually under a Winter Storm Watch but most of it is due to arrive Sunday night, and they don't even know if it will blow off the coast and miss us altogether, or clip Baltimore as it travels towards New England. It is actually the same storm that drenched LA. Mike we hope you didn't have to put out sand bags! Looks like San Diego got hit the worst.
The kids were up at 5 am Christmas morning-Allison swears she heard "someone" up on the roof. We made them wait until at least 7am so we could make coffee before sitting down to open the gifts. At least we had a head start on the "prep" time this year. I wasn't up wrapping until 3am on Christmas Eve thank goodness. But I was just as tired.
Scott caught a cold this week and he had a small fever. Tom took him in for his yearly check up and they said he had a fever. I figured they'd skip all the shots, but of course not. Poor kid had a tetanus shot, a meningitis vaccination and his flu shot! I was a bit annoyed that the pediatrician hit him with all that right before Christmas. Although it didn't seem to slow him down too much(yet).
I spent most of Christmas day packing and doing laundry as well as cleaning up. I was actually raking leaves Christmas day! The weather was fairly mild so I also had the chance to vacuum out the van too before I packed it. Neither Tom nor I prepared for Christmas dinner. Tom went out to pick up something to cook for dinner, but came home with presents instead. I was so tired by the end of Christmas day I didn't feel like scrounging around to put together a meal. Tom thought about running out to the grocery store to pick up something to cook, but missed out as the stores closed early(I was surprised anything was open at all!). Instead, we all headed out for a Christmas Story ending and had dinner at a Chinese Buffet. I was so tired, I was falling asleep in my Won Ton soup. But at least I didn't have to cook!
We actually had our big meal on Christmas Eve with our neighbors. I still had a rack of ribs in the freezer that we didn't get to when Tom's brother Mark and family visited at Thanksgiving, so it was an easy dinner to put together. Everything in the crock pot and oven. I did spend Christmas Eve day getting haircuts for myself and Allison and picking up some last minute food items for dinner. I made Tom his favorite crab dip for an appetizer and we had baked potatoes and broccoli salad with our ribs. Tom picked up dessert at Sam's Club including Allison the Red Velvet Cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory which Allison and I wanted to try. Tom also picked up a Coconut cake for himself and Scott. We were in a bit of a rush since we were attending the 4pm Christmas Eve mass and Scott was in the Christmas pageant held 20 minutes before mass where the kids put on the story of the nativity and sang. We had to get Scott there by 3pm and the church was already filling up. Of course they also had two other masses at 4pm in the gym and cafeteria. Just getting a parking spot was a miracle! I was also surprised that Scott still wanted to be in the pageant since he wasn't feeling well. Both of his arms hurt so bad and he was still coughing. I couldn't even believe he made it to the dress rehearsal the night before since he had just come from the doctor's office. I was very proud of him. Tom got him a great beard for his costume as a shepherd, and he had a robe from another mom, along with a towel on his head wrapped with rope. To top it off, he carried his boy scout hiking stick. He made a wonderful shepherd, and he even had a small boy dressed as a cotton ball sheep! The kids did a great job. Tom did not even want to attempt the 4pm mass and crowds, but he said it was one of the best masses he had ever been to after all. Turns out they had a great jazz band playing the Christmas music, so it was very upbeat. Worth the crowds. And we really enjoyed having dinner and exchanging gifts with our next door neighbors that evening.
We were pretty busy right up to Christmas Day. Scott had a short week with a Christmas party on Monday and his Christmas pageant on Tuesday. Tom attended the pageant and then brought Scott home. The boys spent a few days doing last minute Christmas shopping. Allison on the other hand was busy with classes and schoolwork/tests right up until Thursday. We were certainly looking forward to a holiday break! The Seitz Family