"Christmas Time...Is Here..."

Already?? Yes, I too am in disbelief at how fast this year just went by. I guess we all say that in December right? When you're in our family, you have a lot of Christmases to go to, and this year was no exception. As I may have mentioned a few times, my 16 day vacation started on the 21st, so I had all the time in the world to relax. Cari had to work up to Christmas Eve but she was off the following week. We started by going to her parent's house:



What a tempting shmear of dinner treats. I forget what we brought. A pumpkin pie maybe? Not sure.



A Martin High School hoodie for Emmy? Check! Eventhough she won't be going there for 5 more years, why not get a jump on the fashion trend, eh?



Zach picked up a Hexxbug battlefield! We've experimented with it. Cari got everyone Hexxbugs, which are robot bugs that will move around and battle each other when in a confined space. Much like married people do to this day. I kept calling it "Hexabugs" which Zach couldn't stand. He'll say "Okay Dad, say Hex...Bug...no A in the middle!" and I'm all "Hex...B-B...B---ABUG!" and he'd freak out just a bit. Ahh, the fun I have with my kids.



John: "Can anyone guess what I have behind my back?"
Us: "Um...not a clue."
John: "Oh come on...somebody guess...please?"
Us: "Ohh...we'll say...a chicken."
John: "What kind of a guess is that!?"

Moving on...

Christmas morning of course saw Ol' Saint Nick leave everyone some goodies:



A new iPod for Emmy? Check. A new TV for Zach? Double check. How did we wind up with a nicer TV in his room than we have in ours? Very peculiar...



I really like this shot of me and Zach. I got some new sunglasses and a book, "1001 Battles"!! Zach got some Nerf battle blades which he will not put down. So far all of us have gotten hurt in some way by them...but Zach the most. When the attacker becomes the martyr...God help us all.



Me: "So Cari, how do you like those earmuffs I got you?"
Cari: "I'm not wearing earmuffs."
Me: "Ohh...um...this is awkward."

Turns out she wanted some a little more...less furry. I can't blame her.



We even got some snow! Not until we were driving home after Christmas lunch of course, but it was still pretty cool to have some during the holiday week.

All in all, we all got some pretty cool things this Christmas. But what made it really nice was to be able to see all of our family at pretty much the same time and be able to be together for the holidays. That's what really does it for me. Knowing my family is taken care of makes me feel like I can do anything. Hopefully that's the point of it all.

"New Carpet??"

Well, not really. But we did rent a carpet shampooer from Kroger to get our house ready for Christmas! This year it was our turn to play host for Mom and Keri to exchange presents before going over to Tom and Glenda's new house in Millsap for the Camp Christmas get together. Here is what it looked like before:



Ugh...just...foul. We have an older carpet cleaner in the garage but it didn't do anything. Needless to say it looks a lot better now. So we got the house looking better and we had a good time opening presents. A few pix:



The Beatles are coming! Well, not really. But Mom saw this shirt and thought it would be perfect for me. And...it was.



A Beatles clock! I'm sensing a theme here. Keri definitely scored a major find here.



A Titanic Christmas ornament! I'm not as big into the movie as others are, but this is pretty neat.



I do believe this is Emmy's most favourite present she got this year. I personally added this to her Amazon wish list cuz I thought she'd like it, but it turns out she won't take it off now. I even cought some flack because she's worn it to Six Flags like every time we've been (between washes of course).



Zach even picked up a cool Spiderman hat and gloves! As cold as it's been this winter I know he'll need them. I think I got out of order here. The Saturday night before, we went over to Grandma's house to have Christmas with Dad and company since they don't come to Grandma's house on Christmas Day. Which, since it's at Ed and Susan's house this year, would seem silly to go to Grandma's house only to find no one one. So we had a potluck dinner and some apple pie for dessert and, as always, exchanged a few gifts:



Keri was nice enough to nab some "Griswold Family Christmas" t-shirts from...somewhere. So, we had our picture made with them. Seemed the right thing to do.



Me: "Wow, a Mackinaw Peach shirt from the tv show Seinfeld!!"
Emily: "I don't know why that shirt is so funny, but it's cracking me up!"
Cari: "I think there's some sort of laughing gas being pumped in through the vents...HA HA HA"



Man, someone is ecstatic over his new saw blades!! I was talking about Dad of course. I know you were all thinking Grandma, but...nope.



A Phineas & Ferb voice changer! I added this to Zach's wish list about 3 years ago and he finally got it. It makes him sound really weird...er. Heh heh.

Next week I'll feature the pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning! Needless to say, my children made out very well for themselves. As did I. I love my Mackinaw peach shirt. I can never have enough cool t-shirts.

"Another Birthday??"

Man, am I really 38? Really? Time sure does go by fast and slow at the same time doesn't it? Mom was nice enough to have Keri and us over for a wonderful lunch and a few presents! Thank goodness Amazon.com has the wish list function plus every item known to man (and a few that aren't!) for me to wish for. A few pix:



This has quickly become one of my favourite hoodies! Even if the Cowboys are only an 8-8 team for the 2nd year in a row, this is really warm and soft...just like me!



A new alarm clock! I had been using Uncle Paul's old one with the manual tuner and no antenna so that I could never wake up to 103.3 ESPN radio in the mornings. But this one will charge my phone, play songs off of it, and even has 2 alarms for different radio stations! A very wise choice I made to wish for it many moons ago.





There's some good shots of me and the little folks! Keri wouldn't let anyone take pictures of her for some reason...a real mystery. Maybe we'll be enlightened one day.

So...now I'm 38. Now what? I seem to be in a pretty good place in my life. There's some things about me that annoy people I'm sure, but I wouldbe willing to bet there's more than a few people that would want to be in the position that I'm in. Financially I had the best year of my life, and I think Cari did too. Working 10 hours of overtime a week will do that for you. Hopefully 2013 will be just as good to us. I try to not take things for granted and to always be thankful for what I've been given. Part of me wonders if I should be doing something more...

"Cello Time!"

Yes, my favourite daughter Emily had her Christmas strings recital Monday night and, thanks to a good co-worker switching schedules with me, I was able to see (and photograph and videotape) it!! A few pix:



Boy: "So, do you come here often?"
Emily: "What? What are you talking about? I come here everyday! It's called SCHOOL?!"
Boy: "No no, I meant do you get on the stage and play cello often...?"
Emily: "Ohh. No, not usually, unless they ask me..."



When I was filming I zoomed in on her playing. Was pretty cool. Better than I could ever play the violin when I lived in Canada. They were all so shocked in 8th grade that I couldn't speak French and play an instument. Bunch of idiots.

Dad came by Thursday and took me out to lunch! We went to the one place neither of us ever get to go very often...Black Eyed Pea! We got rhe same meal practically, of course. Chicken Fried Chicken is so good there. I think they shrunk the portions a little, but it was still really good. He even got me the Three Stooges book I had on my Amazon Wish List! The real present was getting together though. We never seem to do that very often.

Oh yeah, it's my birthday! Numero 38. Man, some people might feel old when they hit that, but I'm in the best shape of my life right now. Hopefully I won't just completely fall apart when I hit 60 or 70. I wish I could think about things other than that right now. Time just flows by around us so fast.

"Another Tooth!?"

Yes, Emmy has lost yet another one. I sure hope they're falling out because they're supposed to and not because there's serious dental problems ha ha. I'd like to think that if there were, her dentist would have caught them. I think Emmy's almost done though. Maybe a couple more.

Emmy was also in a Christmas parade with her Girl Scouts! Zach was of course in full celebration mode:



Ugh lousy iPhone camera. It did though manage to get a cool shot of Zach with his lit up noisemaker:



I broke Carson's toy so I had to exchange it. I swung it so fast to make a cool light show that it fell apart. I gues $5 doesn't buy as much as it should.

Emmy made a gingerbread house for school. It looks really good:



Of course, they use cardboard to put everything on, which means if you tried to eat it you'd get an overdose of cardboard but probably a good dose of fiber!

Going to Choctaw Saturday night for my birthday!!! Can't believe I'm going to be 38 this year. So thankful for everything I have and get to do in my life. I know things could always be worse so I try not to complain about anything. I was at Kroger this week and they had their Christmas trees at the front. Well, I just stood there and breathed them in for like five minutes. Really took me back to when I was a kid and we'd get a real tree every year. I have yet to find a candle that can match a real tree. That's a shame.