8 Christmases

That's right... count them... we had eight Christmases. The first was on Thursday before Christmas. Jeremy and I gave the kids the presents from us. Number two was Dirty Santa with my mom's family at my brother's house. Numbers three through six were all on Christmas Eve. We picked the kids up from their mother at 9:30, went to his mom's, then my parents', then his dad's; throw in two drama-filled trips to Wal-Mart, "paying" Santa Clause, and our private moment of exchanging our gifts to each other at midnight and that sums up Christmas Eve. It was crazy to say the least. But we were blessed with a couple of actual Christmas miracles. At the end of the day, we were exhausted, but we were so bubbly and excited because it had really been a wonderful day. Christmas day was grandparents' day... we had number seven at his grandparents' house and ended with number eight at my grandparents' house. That day was much more relaxed. In fact, I was so relaxed that I feel asleep at both places! I had to work yesterday and it took four cups of coffee to get me through the day. All in all, even though it was so crazy, it was probably the best Christmas I can ever remember. We got to spend time with our families, and it seems the older I get, the more important that has become to me. And more importantly, I got to spend Christmas with the man I love.

We ate so much ham, turkey, and dressing that I hope I don't see it again for three months! We did Mexican last night because we needed a change.

I racked up on gifts too. I got a wad of cash; two throw blankets, one homemade by Jeremy's mom; two purses, a Fossil purse from my sister-in-law, and a quilted/monogrammed purse from Mom that says "Bride to Be;" gift cards to Cato (my favorite place), Rosie's, Newks, and Starbucks; three outfits; jewelry; a pair of shoes, a beautiful watch from Jeremy, socks, a toboggan, two pairs of gloves, a Pur water filter pitcher, a very pretty clock, and more.

I would never be able to put into words all the drama and all the awesome things that happened on Christmas Eve. I told Tara last night that we should have had a reality show filming crew with us. It was that crazy. I almost had a breakdown about three times. One when I opened the Bride to Be purse, one when the mean lady at Wal-Mart wouldn't give me my pictures, and one when we finally made it to his dad's and I was telling Jennifer about the day and thanking God for His miracles and His grace.

Since the days have now past, we are now faced with returning some things. I bought Jeremy a wallet last week and then found out that my mom already had him one. I took that one back already and I was so crunched on funds that instead of buying him something else, I had to use the money on other people. The reason we were at Wal-mart at 5pm on Christmas Eve was to pick up a last minute present for our little man from Santa. Of course, then we had to get another present for our princess to even things out. However, when Santa was at our house, we realized that he didn't need to get the extra girl present because things were even without it. So we're taking that one back today because that doll is a little freakish. The store where Jeremy got my outfit forgot to take the ink tag off the skirt so I've got to take it by there today when I get off work so that I can wear it tomorrow. I got him seasons 2.0 and 2.5 of Battlestar Galactica. I know... I am marrying a sci-fi geek. Who woulda ever thought? Anyhow, that's what he wanted and that was $100 altogether. Of course, last night we saw them at Wal-mart for $32 a piece, versus $50 a piece that I paid for them. So we're going to take those back to the store I bought them at, get our money back and go buy them at Wal-Mart. That way we'll have 1/3 of the money to get season 3 also. So that was pretty awesome that how that worked out.

Now it's time to get ready for New Year's. We have been invited to two parties so far. Both are church related. We're going to have the kids, and I'm not sure that they will be able to make it til midnight. So we still haven't decided what we're going to do. As far as resolutions... I don't know about that yet... I haven't had time to think about it and you know I've never been a fan of the resolution-making. I'll have to think about that sometime later this week.