Almost 2009

The New Year is upon us and I am so grateful for the wonderful year I've had. Life is good! I'm praying for good things for everyone and great blessings for the next year!

Cheers to all!!! And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Falling Flat on My Face

Did you ever hear the term "falling flat on your face"? Well, this actually happened to me this week. So I love being busy, and having a project. This year I decided to create a life size gingerbread family to represent all the members of our household. Last year I painted the snowman family, which we are hanging in the family room. With all I try to do during the holidays, I was a bit frazzled. I went outside to check out my finished gingerbread family, and not really paying attention to what I was doing - whoosh- down I went. As I was falling in my front yard, I was certain I would catch myself before actually falling on my face. But no, face down going straigh into the ground. Lucky for me, my face fell into the mulch and not our crown of thorns. Of course, the first thing I did was look around to make sure nobody saw! I've got a few bruises but my ego got it the worst.

Now I should have gone back to bed, and cancelled the rest of the weekend at this point. But no, I just kept chugging away. We were having our cookie party on Sunday, which most everyone bailed out of anyway. Good thing, since during the party our oven exploded. No, I'm not kidding, there was an actual explosion inside the oven while we were baking cookies. My mother, being who she is, was very concerned that we might loose a batch of cookies and opened the smoking oven to retrieve the cookie sheet. Everyone went crazy. People were running out the door, my daughter was dropping and rolling (even though she was in a different room). Thank God, my husband had the presence of mind to throw the electric switch. We finally got things under control and has to cancel the rest of the cookie swap.

My silver lining is, even though it is one week before Christmas, and we have 30 people coming for dinner on Christmas Eve, I'm getting a new oven!! A bright shiney LG oven to match my refrigerator! Oh, the cookies I'll be baking this weekend! I can't wait, and I'll be walking real carefully when I go outside.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Can you hear it? It is the tiny little voice telling you that Christmas is almost here. Something like 18 more days - OMG!!! I have so much to do, I'm not even sure where to start. Every year it seems like there is less time to prepare for the holidays, they just keep getting here faster and faster. Or is that just me getting old?

O.K., time to quit complaining, and time to get busy. My dirty little secret is I just love all the craziness! I love having a million things to do, I love being busy. My husband thinks I am insane, and after 10 wonderful years of marriage (our anniversary just passed), I have managed to get him involved with crafting. If I had a mustach, I would be twirling it right now. I am so proud!

This year for our anniversary I convinced my husband we should make gifts for each other. After all, what could show our love better than something from the heart. I can't believe he actually did it. He sent me out for the afternoon last week (major bonus!) and he stayed home with the kids and made me presents. He even baked me a cake! Poor thing tried to melt chocolates, but he scorced them and it seized:( But the kids were still so excited, they told us they really like crunchy chocolate.

In all fairness, I thought I should make him something that was out of my comfort zone. I did a scrapbook of our years together. I have to say I have an entirely new admiration for you scrapbookers. I never quite understood how hard it is, or how creative the process could be. Well, this has been an amazing weekend! And now I get to really focus on the holidays:)

I'm so excited about all the projects I have planned, including making a life size gingerbread family for my front yard. I found a craftperson on etsy to cut out the gingerbread pieces for me. I've already started painting them and can't wait to see how they turn out. Pics to come!

Enjoy getting into the holidays everyone!