Making a list, checking it twice ...

or three times ... or four. :-D

I think we're starting to see some progress as we close in on Christmas in just 4 days! (I started typing this on the 21st.) Today, the girls and I spent several hours making goodies; some for us, some for friends. We made a load of Peanut Butter Balls, a double batch of Tiger Butter, 81 Thin Mints (Erica counted :-), 1 1/2-batches of White Chocolate Party Mix and Spiced Pecans. We spent an inordinate amount of time making everything, packaging it up, then cleaning up after ourselves. By then it was about 3:00 and no one had eaten any lunch. However, many had eaten a fair amount of chocolate! ;-) Rachel & I showered, got everybody loaded up and made a run for the border. By the time we did all this, it was 4:35 before we were heading over to Dr. Moon's office to deliver the goodies. While en route (but still very close to Lebanon), I decided to check to see what time their office closed. Turns out it was 4:30! So, I made a U-turn, then headed back in to town to mail our Christmas photo cards. It was actually pretty enjoyable – we were all in good spirits and Grant & Trent both slept!

The rest of the evening was spent eating dinner – yummy Baked French Toast, provided by a kind soul at church – and gift wrapping with Mick while the girls cleaned up from dinner and took turns holding Trent. We probably got at least half of it done! I'm determined to finish before Christmas this year!!

Phew!!

What a weekend! It started out bright and early Saturday morning with a shopping trip. Mick and I (and Trent) took off around 9 am. First stop was church so Mick could help move pews. I stayed in the car and tended to Trent. Then we drove down to Castleton and finished up our Christmas shopping. I spent 2 hours in Jo-Ann's picking up 3 patterns and picking out fabric for those sewing projects for Rachel. It was pretty crowded and very confusing for this novice seamstress. I made about 5 phone calls to Kelly during that shopping trip -- she was an invaluable source of information. I'm going to put all the fabric and materials in a big box and wrap them together. I can't wait to see Rachel's expression -- I think she is going to be very excited! While I was in Jo-Ann's, Mick went to Target and Dick's Sporting Goods to finish up his shopping.

From there, we drove back home, stopping by for a quick lunch on the way. We had made plans to go sledding in the afternoon, so we had asked Rachel to get the snow gear packed up and ready to go. True to her first-born nature, she attacked that mission with much vigor and organization, as is evidenced by these pictures:

How funny is that?! Yep, I would've done the same thing ... separate trash bags, with typed-up contents taped to the sides. ;-)

Heather & Ron were finishing up moving things to their new house, so their girls were at Mom & Dad's. We picked up Holly & Ellie and I dropped everyone off at the famous Maze Road hill and went back to Mom & Dad's with my sidekick.

The sledding only lasted an hour or so, then we ate dinner with Mom & Dad, then drove the girls back to their new house and got a tour. Got home by 10pm!

Today was just as busy ... up at 5:30 to put a roast in the crockpot, and make the communion bread and baked oatmeal. I woke Mick up around 7:45 and he was a tremendous help -- cleaning up the mess I'd made in the kitchen while I bathed the younger girls. After church, we had a nice dinner, topped by our Advent readings and gifts. For this last Sunday in Advent, we gave the girls their own giant Hershey's Special Dark bar. Boy, were they thrilled! During dinner, we got a call from Bob, who was on his way over with Melanie. They hadn't gotten to meet Trent yet, plus they had a Christmas gift for the girls ... a new Wii gameset! Very exciting! Hopefully, we'll get it all hooked up in the next day or so.

Right after they left, we headed back over to church for our annual Lessons & Carols service. Kelly & I sang with the choir and the Ladies Madrigal group (Rachel joined that group), the kids sang "Joy to the World" with a kids' choir, and Rachel, Courtney & Erica sang "What Child is This". They did a great job! Mom & Dad came up and we had nice time afterward visiting and eating goodies. We didn't get home until about 8:45. Trent was a fussbudget, so I quickly got wrapped up taking care of him, while everybody else fended for themselves for dinner. It was cereal for most of them, and judging by the surprise I found after everyone went to bed, it looks like Grant tried to pour his own cereal! :-D I think I fell asleep before anybody else (except for Brooke, who climbed up on the couch by Mick and fell asleep within minutes).

I'm hoping to get lots of baking/candy making done tomorrow. We're pretty well-stocked with ingredients, so we'll see how productive we are. A lot of it depends on Trent and how much he sleeps! We're hoping to deliver some goodies on Tuesday, wrap on Wednesday, then a tea party at the Orrs on Thursday. Fun!

Today was a productive day of preparing for Christmas, thanks to Amazon and their Free Super Saver Shipping! I focused on getting the rest of the gifts for the cousins. Unfortunately with our dialup, it still takes hours, but I'd rather spend the hours here at home, rather than driving through snow and fighting crowds trying to find just the right thing. I still have one more gift to get for Rachel, and 1 more cousin, I think. I also ordered Mom & Dad's gift and a couple of stocking stuffers for Mick. My goal is to get the Christmas shopping completely done by Saturday, then next week, we can hopefully just focus on baking and wrapping gifts.

Next Thursday, we are planning on going to the Orrs for a Christmas tea. Mom wanted to have one while the Ramseys are here, and they'll only be here from Wednesday through Sunday. I'm sure it will be a whirlwind couple of days, as always, but we're looking forward to it! The snow has been pretty amazing this year. I can't remember a December this snowy in recent years. We are hoping to go sledding on the famous Maze Road hill on Saturday. I'm not sure how many pictures I'll be able to get this time, since I have little Trent. We may just spend most of our time in the warm van. :-)

It's strange to have this much time to update the blog. Last night, Trent was awake off and on (mostly on) for most of the evening; most of the day, really. He just couldn't get settled in until very late. Tonight, I put him in the bath with Grant around 9:00. After that, Rachel put him in some snuggly pajamas, and he just quietly drifted off to sleep! Amazing! He's been asleep ever since (it's 11 pm now) and is laying on Mick right now. Too cute. I told Mick if it's because of the bath, I'm going to be giving him a bath every night, rather than the usual once a week. ;-) I'll close with Trent in those snuggly PJs ...

Wrapping it up

So, 2:06 am seems like a good time to wrap up the majority of my Christmas shopping. :-) It's hard to find time and privacy during the day, so, I'll take the night -- er, morning. I'm excited about what I've been able to find for everyone, mostly at Amazon.com. I took full advantage of their Free Super Saver Shipping and saved about $20 in S&H costs. So far, I've only gone shopping one time. Last Friday, I had my 6-week checkup, got some lunch, then went to several stores with Trent (aka "My Sidekick"). He slept beautifully from the time I got into the doctor's office, until about the 3rd store, which amounted to about 4 hours. Then he was awake...and hungry...and unhappy. And since pushing a large shopping cart while holding a crying 6-week-old is not the easiest, or most fun activity, I vowed to do as much shopping as I could online. I don't know that it's the most economical alternative, but this year, I really think it's the best.

Other than the online shopping, today was a pretty quiet day ("quiet" being a relative term, of course). Some friends were going to drop off their 2 girls while they went to a Christmas party, but one ended up not feeling well. We were disappointed, but the good thing was, we got the house cleaned up in record time, and just before we got the call saying they weren't coming over. ;-)

My sidekick has just woken up and decided now is a good time for a late-night snack. Guess he wants to celebrate the shopping wrap-up, too. ;-)