Thursday, December 27, 2007

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS HAS PASSED

I hope everyone had a great holiday! I was determined that this was going to be a kinder, gentler (so to speak) holiday, less hectic than years past. It didn't turn out that way at all. I spent more time than I had anticipated in the kitchen, throwing together this dish or that, making cookie/fudge plates and tins, stirring up sugared nuts at the last minute. I did have most of my wrapping finished by Christmas Eve however, a major accomplishment for me.
We always give gift cards to nieces and nephews and wanted to give my girls gift cards to American Eagle as part of their gift. I had my list of nieces and nephews, with the various places I would need to go to get said cards. As I approached the checkout desk and saw the rack of gift cards, I grabbed six and every niece and nephew got gift cards from American Eagle. Not very imaginative, but I can't tell you how satisfying it was to put a check beside those names indicating that they were taken care of!
We had a wonderful Christmas, except that my hubby evidently didn't get the memo that we were "downsizing" our holiday spending this year. He is the most generous and giving man in the world, especially at Christmas. My favorite gift? I have several, but I think my brand spanking new Bluejackets hockey jersey is my absolute fav - followed by the family pack of hockey tickets that my friend Carly gave us for this Saturday's home game! I can't wait - I'll be sporting my new jersey and waving my foam finger! Well, I probably *won't* take my foam finger, that's not really my style, but it was sweet of Tim to get it for me! I also got a black leather coat that I've had my eye on, new robe and slippers, a Belleek (Irish porcelain) snowman ornament, lotions, candles, calendars, and an attachment for my KitchenAid mixer that scrapes the bowl while it mixes - can't wait to try that one out!
I have reviews coming in the next couple of days for Janice Maynard's THE PERFECT TEN and LuAnn McLane's TRICK MY TRUCK . . . - both are great fun and there will be a contest running to celebrate LuAnn's book!!
The contest for the Lora Leigh books I spoke about a few weeks ago will also be coming up in the next week or so. I realize that I'm behind, but between college "shopping" with my daughter and the Christmas holiday, I've barely been able to think straight.
If you have a minute, tell us about your holiday - what did you do? What was your favorite gift? New Year's Eve plans?
Laurie

3 comments:

Fedora said...

Laurie, your Christmas sounds wonderful! And shopping by giftcards is great, isn't it? I'm sure your nieces and nephews loved them, too! (Who doesn't like being able to help choose her own gifts? ;)) And what a great hubby you have!

Our favorite gift this year was from our four-year-old, who (at school) wrote and illustrated her own board book for us. We love it! :)

Otherwise, we had a pretty quiet few days--it's been blissful to enjoy some time off and just relax together as a family! (My DH is taking a week or so off for the first time in ages--it's great!)

And we're boring homebodies (even before kids!) so no big plans for New Year's Eve :)

Thanks for the reviews, even in your busy times! Can't wait to read about what's coming!

Anonymous said...

Hi Laurie,

All our family lives here in Macon so we don't have to travel during the holidays. We spend Christmas Eve at church then at Mom's for a huge Christmas Eve dinner then came home went to bed! I wrapped all the kids Christmas gifts this year - with no names, just a number system. THey didn't know which gifts were theirs until Christmas morning. I loved it, they hated it. Go figure!!! Sadly, our youngest (10 yrs old) told us earlier in the year he knew we bought all the gifts, not Santa. So we decided to not stay up and lay out "Santa stuff". It was nice not to miss that extra sleep, but sad too because it takes some of the magic out of the holiday. Christmas morning lasted longer though because they had to wait for me to tell what they could open.

We're hosting a huge New Year's Party for the Sugar Bowl. Planning a low country boil and lots of teenagers coming over. It should be lots of fun.

Judy F said...

I am sorry to see the holidays end. We had a good Christmas this year. With all that has happened with my parents this year I was worried. I gotsome lovely gift cards, calendars, sweater, magazines, picture frames etc. Got a cool Lands end vest from my boss. I actually feel hip when I have it on. LOL

No New years plans except SLEEP