i'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

with every Christmas card I didn't write.....no cards this year, not even one...I ordered some pictures from Walmart, and thought they would be done by now, but they're not. I suppose there is a price to pay for proctastination.

It WILL be a white Christmas here in rural central New York, however. The temperature won't be rising above freezing for at least the next week. We are supposed to get a bit more snow today, and another few inches tonight. It's nice when it keeps coming, because it covers the dirty snowbanks over and over again. Last evening, on the way home from shopping, the Christmas lights looked so bright and sparkly in the snow....

This has definitely been the right year to invest in boots. Not that it has killed me to wear shoes in the snow.....

I think I am done with my Christmas shopping. I should just write on here what I got everyone, then I would find out if the kids read this or not. I did get Joseph something last night, and something for my Secret Santa, too. I also bought two pretty dresses for Charlotte Claire and Camille for Ben and Ashley's wedding. They are flower girls, so they need to have pretty dresses.

I am taking Miss Kathryn back to the doctor today for her ear this morning. I have to pick up a present for Sam's Secret Santa. Then I am done. Really and truly done. The other day in the store, a lady said to me, "I keep forgetting we have to eat before Christmas, too." I have this good stuff in the 'fridge and freezer that they can't have until Christmas....like pizza rolls and mozzarella sticks and toaster pasteries and hummus and of course the ham. I bought the ingredients for Jerk Chicken yesterday....I shall make up the marinade this afternoon and start the chicken in it for Christmas day....

Yesterday's shopping trip was interesting. We left the house after school, around 3:30..."we" being Joseph 19, Aaron 18, Mali 16 1/2, Sam 15, and Margaret 14 (today!)....(five kids in a row...) Anyway, we stopped at DunkinDonuts for some coffee, then to Target. My sister Cheryl was in there with Becky, Claire, Janet, and Audrey. Now, that was fun. They girls waited for their mom in the snack area, so when I finished, I sat with them. I let my spoiled bratty five kids get slushies and a popcorn. Then my kids left me there and went to the mall with the van, so I could go to the grocery store. Cheryl only needed a few things, so she and her girls left, and I finished up...I finally called Aaron and asked where the heck they were....he couldn't find Joe, Mali, and Sam, so he and Margaret came and got me...it took forever and a day to get through the line with all the good stuff I was getting, and the kids at the mall had no cell phones. They did not even know that Aaron was leaving, but when they went out and found the van gone they figured it out. We went back to the mall to get them, and they were standing on a huge rock in the middle of the entrance/exit roads, right in the middle of all the traffic, dancing and fooling around. We pulled up to get them, and when they opened the van doors, they bombarded us with snowballs for leaving them at the mall.

Then I took the spoiled brats to McDonalds to get one thing from the dollar menu...which turned into two things, which for Sam, turned into THREE things. rrr. But it was good fun.

I made the cashier in Target cry. I told her my son was picking his finance up from the airport last evening, and he was going to get down on his knee and give her the ring....and that he is getting married next week. She asked if he was in the military, and I told her he was in the middle of basic training for the Army. She said her son just finished boot camp for the Army, too. She thought I should go to the airport. She got all teary-eyed, and said she shouldn't talk about it anymore because she was just going to cry......she was very sweet, and I will choose her line next time even if it is longer.

The presents are stacked up two feet high in front of the tree. The living room is only moderately messy, but there are still groceries to put away. We got home after 9, and I tucked in Camille and hugged all the little kids and suffered the guilt of having spent the evening away from them. We got the cold stuff put away, and that was about it. I just get tired after such a busy day, and then I am a day late and a dollar short, and never ever caught up.....

Our entrance way in the dining room is horrible. There are boots and shoes and sneakers and the mitten/hat bin, and all the extra coats and jackets and sweaters that don't fit on the hooks are on top of a bin that holds canned goods....there is a stack of boxes of Bisquick, and some soda for the holidays. There are bottles of apple juice, and a stack of cereal that doesn't fit in the cupboard. I go over there every day, a few times even, and fix the shoes and boots and try to make it look neat. There is just too much stuff and not a place for it. Yesterday, Mali was saying she never wanted to be rich, and I said I wouldn't either, but I WOULD like a bigger house with a huge mudroom with shelves and hooks and bins....and a huge pantry for all the big boxes and tons of cans and jars and packages....(and of course an indoor pool...wouldn't that feel nice, in all this cold weather, being stuck in the house, just to swim in your own indoor pool?)

And if we were rich, I would turn the heat up so it would always be nice and warm in here, not just when supper or cookies were in the oven.

Anyway, enough with the "if I were rich"....time to be thankful for what I have and get moving....