Christmas at our house!

Well, Santa went a little over the top at our house this Christmas!! Kevin & I had discussed with the entire family that we wanted to cut back this year and keep Christmas as simple as possible, but neither Kevin or I kept to that plan. I went crazy with dvd's (as usual) for Kevin and he got me some new ones as well, so our huge collection continues to grow, Kevin also got me the American Idol game for his XBOX360 and it was a HUGE hit!! The whole family was over at our house for Christmas day and we were up until 2AM playing it!! (Then, when we had some friends over on Saturday we did the same thing-the game is addictive!!) Kevin also gave me both pieces of jewelry that he had purchased at a jewelry store that was going out of business around Thanksgiving-I guess he didn't want to have to keep it somewhere else until the next holiday, so he just gave them both to me. A beautiful green amethyst necklace and a sapphire ring that I call my fly-eye ring. I will have to get pictures of them to post, I LOVE them!!!

The big surprises were from Santa-he dropped off my nearly finished bookshelves (Kevin started these shelves 5 years ago with his Grandfather, but soon after starting the project his grandfather passed away and he didn't ever want to work on them after that, I had finally given up on the idea of them ever being completed so I had told him that is what I wanted for Christmas, or just buy me new ones so that I would have a place to keep all our dvd's, he had basically laughed in my face about the idea of completing them, so I was already scouting bookshelves online, glad I didn't order any!) and there was also a starter embroidery machine under the tree from Santa!! What a huge surprise! I had told Kevin that is what I wanted, but didn't think he would actually get it for me!!! Of course when I ran upstairs to say thanks (Kevin slept in since the family wasn't coming over until lunch, but I got up because I was trying to finish (start & finish actually) the Christmas aprons I was making for everyone-which I didn't get mom and Mary's done until the day after Christmas, so sorry about that girls!) he was like, "What are you talking about, was there a tag on it?" so when I went back downstairs I saw that it said "from Santa" on the tag, so that was fun. This is also when I noticed the embroidery machine under the tree, but I had already woken Kevin up once, so I waited to tell him thank you for that until he woke up later. The big present I got for Kevin was the new 32G Apple Ipod Touch that he has been talking about non-stop! It was supposed to be a surprise, but sadly he found out about it. I used my credit card (should have used mom & dad's) and he was checking to be sure his present for me had gone through on Christmas eve when he saw the charge and figured it out, oh well, even if it wasn't a surprise, he loves it and that's what matters!!! Betsy & Mary both got me photo gifts that I love (a little book& a dvd of sister/family pictures) & Kelsey had sent home a basket from Africa with mom & dad when they had been there for a visit, but the best gift from Kelsey was her phone call. I got to talk to her for a little while on Christmas day, so since she couldn't be there with us it was great to be able to talk to her on the phone!!! (I still didn't even mention the gifts from all the rest of the family so as you can tell, this Christmas ended up being a HUGE Christmas & I absolutely LOVED every one of my gifts!!)

My big present to myself was that I took Friday off of work so that I would have a long weekend to get to feeling better because I ate yummy food for Christmas!! Kevin brought me home a peppermint & chocolate chip milkshake from CFA on Christmas Eve. (Which I ate at home after we spent the evening with Barbara, Larry & Micki.) On Christmas day I planned out the meals that I wanted most and here is what was decided on: I ate a blueberry bagel with cream cheese for breakfast, a homemade taco & some tortilla chips with cheese sauce for lunch, homemade potato soup with yummy bread for dinner and homemade Indiana sugar cream pie for dessert! (And of course I snacked on Christmas cookies & M&M's throughout the day) It was basically the best Christmas ever!! I drank a TON of water all day and I think that helped because it really wasn't that bad over the weekend, I just tried not to go anywhere and really only felt really bad one day, so that was great! I don't know if that was a Christmas miracle or if maybe I could start adding more foods back into my diet, either way it was a great Christmas gift from God and I feel so blessed!!

It was really fun having everyone over to our house for Christmas this year. We hadn't done that before, we always go to mom & dad's, but since I was eating this year we did it at our house!! It was so much fun! (Sorry if it was a hassle everyone, but I really appreciate it!!) The only thing that could have made Christmas better was if I was pregnant, but really, I don't think I can complain. It was a wonderful Christmas and I really am so thankful for my wonderful family and the great Christmas that we had together. Actually, our entire Christmas season was great, from the Reynolds Family Christmas get together, Caroling in our neighborhood, Christmas Eve at Barb's-it was all wonderful!! I will have to get some pictures posted. I don't have a ton, but I have some. (Or you can always check out the ones Betsy & Mare have on their facebook pages as well, they are way better at taking & posting pictures!)

Today I am back at work, but already starting on the plans for Mom & my trip to Brazil!! I have to go to the Brazilian Consulate tomorrow so we can get our Visa's!! I am SOOOOOO excited about that...but more on that later, really I just have too much to say, and this post is already WAY to long!!