it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Chewed up ornaments everywhere...When she wants something to gnaw on, I guess she just goes over to the tree and helps herself.

Let's see../.how much did I accomplish since yesterday? I took Mali shopping and let her pick out a few things, so now she's done. She got her secret santa gift, which I helped her with. I got something small for Ben and Ashley, and some stocking stuffers. We then took a quick trip through the grocery store because we were running out of puppy chow, milk, and fresh fruit. I got a rawhide bone for Suri's stocking...Mali said, "Suri has a stocking??!!" Well. It was NOT my idea. Charlotte Claire totally tacked an extra one up, all on her own. I have, however, supplied some special treats for Char to put in it. Mostly because Char thinks it's so much fun.

But yes...she sort of is the 17th child:)

I still have just a few things to get. We are having Margaret's birthday on Saturday, with chicken wings and other good snacks...then our Mexican Christmas Eve, then a ham on Christmas. I tend to get all muddled in the store, so I wrote some specific lists. Now if I can just remember to bring the lists into the store with me. Then remember to refer to them, instead of burying 'em under groceries in the cart.

So yesterday afternoon, I got into the house with presents to hide, groceries to put away, dinner to make. I put teriyaki pork chops into the oven and made some veggies. I then wanted to exercise, do stockings, wrap presents...so I started with helping the kids wrap their class gifts. Suzanne, Sonja, Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, and Camille needed presents...as we wrapped, Jonathan casually mentioned his chorus concert. Yeah, it was last night. And yeah, we went. I was thankful I had the presence of mind not to say what I was thinking, which was, "SERIOUSLY!!? TONIGHT?! Blah!!!" The little girls were still running fevers, so it was just Jon going on stage. Paul and I both went to watch him, and we were impressed. We were impressed that they sang the old "Here We Come a-Wassailing", which had the lyrics.."may God bless you.."...hey, in schools these days, God is NOT that popular.

So the girls are home again. They have to be fever-free for 24 hours before going back to school. They were both quite hot again last night.

It has been hard to send Jonathan, but he is such a good kid....he gets ready so responsibly. He takes his own shower every morning, his homework is always done and in his backpack, and he brushes his teeth and gets his shoes on with no drama. After the Connecticut thing, I am sure every mother in America, if not the world, hesitates a bit before sending her children off to school. (Yes, Margaret, probably the dads too.) So having the girls home sick this week is okay with me. Not okay to see them sick, but okay to have them here to hug and snuggle and take care of.

I am cutting my computer time short this morning, as I have so much to do. I want to make a whole boat-load of Christmas cookies, especially because Ben is coming home. I dread it, because I am just finally back down to a better weight after working off those last ones...I only ate the burnt ones, but my goodness I burnt a lot of them! Just well done, actually, golden brown....really crunchy and buttery..oh dang. I should chew mint gum all day or something.