first present of the year...

one of Kevin's favorite shows from the past came out on dvd--(Evening Shade, season one.) It arrived today & is bowed & wrapped. Haven't decided on this years gift tag theme yet....

the aftermath...

the gifts are opened, all the Xmas stuff back in the garage, Koren went back home..Kate outgrew dolls somewhere between excitedly helping me fill out the paperwork on her MY TWINN doll & opening it on Xmas eve...but KJ has logged lots of hours on his new games...
we're onto the next holiday....NEW YEARS EVE!
Kate & I went shopping today for junk food & party accessories...have blowouts, hats, tiaras, noisemakers, & beads. She made decorations & put them up, I helped her finish cleaning her room...the Bratz posters all went, the Barbies, My Scenes, & Bratz dolls..(to the garage with the Xmas stuff...)
browsed the latest Current catalog & ordered Kate's classroom valentines. I'll be Xmas shopping again before long...(sigh)

christmas

I slept in, did some more housecleaning, went into work for a few hours, then came home. Kevin had the ham & turkey going (Koren doesn't like ham). Bernard & Janet Axsom, Spickard; John Axsom, Spickard; & Koren Dailey & Cody Wills, St Joe were supper guests of Kevin, Deb, KJ, & Katie Dailey.

christmas eve

Kevin took me to work on the drifty roads of snow, where the Wade 3 crew was greeted with a broken waterline & tons of ice & icicles...he called on his way to pick me up, Koren & Cody were here! she brought a big bag of homemade cookies.
we opened presents...Kate decided that next year she doesn't need any presents, that they just use up all the natural resources making those green dollar bills that I spend on gifts....(they're learning about natural resources & the environment in Social Studies...she is very worried about the state of the world)
Kevin got 2 1/2 Men season 1 dvd, Chiefs jersey, the John Wayne Shepherd of the Hills dvd.
Deb got an awesome Pepsi sweatshirt.
Koren got a personalized picture frame, the new Rhett Butler book, a Happy Bunny hoody, the bubblebath Katie made in art class, & $. (Cody gave her a pearl necklace.)
Cody got Superbad dvd & $.
KJ Guitar Hero3, Bengals jersey, the new wrestling game, new NCAA Football game
Katie My Twinn doll & outfits, digimakeover, superstar game,
Miss Cuddles: tons of cat toys.
Koren gave us a huge Hickory Farms assortment.
Kevin, KJ, Katie, & I went to Trenton to visit Grandma Grace & gave her a large framed group portrait & a little photo album of proofs from the photo shoot. She told us she had went to the Sunnyview xmas party with Kay & Robin & had went on a ride to see christmas lights, but no one had more lights than Sunnyview.
came home, made supper, made pumpkin pie, discovered that not only do I not have real potatoes to make Koren's mashed potatoes at our Christmas supper tomorrow nite, I don't have green beans for my beloved green bean casserole. forgot to buy the cresent rolls, too....pretty amazing for a woman who has had her gifts bought & tree & decorations up since BEFORE Thanksgiving...I wonder about me sometimes....

Christmas in Mercer

the gas station on the Mercer square plays Christmas music over a loud speaker. Santa always comes to town, but Katie didn't go see him this year. (She knows who Mercer's Santa is...)
They used to place a live tree on the bandstand & light it up, but not this year. The businesses have lights & decorations. A lot of homes have beautiful light displays. The school has a big tree in the commons picture window, with kid sized snowman & a little girl. The churches of course have pagaents, but we fell out of the habit of going to church so haven't participated the last couple of years. And of course the school has a Christmas program & Christmas party...a group of high school kids carols around town.

school xmas party

for the last several years I have volunteered in the craft room, dropping beads, wincing as I burn myself with the hot glue gun, tying knots that keep coming undone. Katie has always rode to school with me, this year she jumped on the bus. She worries about being late to school, she worries that I stop for a pepsi on the way because she'll be late, she worries that I spend too long parking & she'll be late...
she made a brief appearance in the craft room & made reindeer ducky & snowman jingle bell ornaments, then she was gone...

it's almost Christmas~

I've decorated & shopped & blogged, & today I realized that Christmas is NEXT WEEK!
tonight was the rescheduled Christmas program @ school--the program is one of the holiday highlights for me...but I seem to always block the painful memories of how difficult it is to get Katie ready to go...
I just knew she'd wear that expensive Candy's dress we bought her--(well, $45 isn't really expensive, I don't guess, but it's the most I've ever spent on a dress for her!) but she loved it. she wears it at home to play. has she ever worn it out in public? not even with all the accessories I got to go with it! she wanted to wear pants, but she doesn't have any dress up pants & I don't want to see her up on the stage in jeans when she has such amazing dress up clothes. she finally (after much badgering) consented to wear something---and she looked beautiful in the long blue velvet dress. we get to school---only one of her friends has on a long dress. she gives me the look.
made it to Princeton to Dollar General with 14 minutes to spare after Xmas program...she had bought her teacher a big tin of popcorn for Xmas---then she decided the popcorn looked good & ate it--I was going to go to Trenton over the weekend, but we had the snow & I just stayed home...thinking maybe she could bake some xmas cookies & we could curl up ribbons to put on the plate & fancy it up---and the girl who always wants to bake wasn't interested. so she found a recording key chain. ( I learned a lesson, she got one for her, one for Mr Eldridge!) so, all is well, & we have a teacher gift for tomorrows school party. I took the day off to work in the craft room, then we have a family afternoon planned with "Alvin & the Chipmunks" & the new Pizza Hut pizza.