Merry Day After Christmas!

Matt and I woke up pretty early today and went post-Christmas present shopping. We agreed to get each other a PS3 for Christmas and waited until after the big day so we could hopefully cash in with some gift cards. This year the big winner was Target with $105 in gift cards so we went there and spent it all at once. Plus some.



I also got Matt a couple of video games he wanted and he got me some nerd movies on Blue Ray. Clockwork Orange, Pan's Labyrinth, Planet Earth and March of the Penguins.

Total. Nerd.

Don't think I didn't want the Lord of the Rings trilogy too. It's not out yet though.

Blue Ray will blow your mind. That business is outrageous. The Planet Earth series alone is worth investing in the system.

I have been antsy and bored all day today - despite the PS3. It was beautiful outside for the first time in a couple of weeks. An astonishing 57°!!! I think it gave me a little spring fever - not a good thing to have in December.

And to all a good night.

Merry Christmas!

Our big Christmas celebration was last night. We had an early dinner with my family and then went to my husband's family's get-together later on. My family was laid back, quiet, only one kid around to open gifts. His family was loud, wrapping paper flying everywhere, kids screaming. You wouldn't want it any other way though, would you?

My mom's family came to Omaha this year so we got to spend our first Christmas with our little cousin Kyle. (He is the only cousin that my sister and I have, and he is four). My family always has a traditional dinner of Swedish meatballs and Swedish potato sausage. I'm not a huge fan of the potato sausage (it smells funny), but the meatballs are something I look forward to year round. My dad makes them and in my opinion they are the best meatballs on the planet. They're so good that one of the secret ingredients might be crack.

Then on to Matt's brother's house... Here hubs and his brothers with (most of) their kids:



This Christmas was wonderful. Having such a large family to celebrate the holidays with definitely makes a difference. I love being able to see all my nieces' and nephews' happy little faces while they tear through Christmas presents. It was a flurry of wrapping paper and screaming. Next year we'll have three more in the mix, for a grand total of eight. Yowza!

One of my favorite gifts I received this year was a bunch of Wilton baking goodies. I got a cookie press and a bake and carry set.



One of my favorite gifts that I gave this year was a photo collage that I made for a couple of the McG's.



Ya, ya. I totally stole that idea from several places. But in the spirit of the recession I decided to save some bucks and make it myself. It was also good practice with the macro lens.

After all the kids were bribed into going to bed we broke out the traditional bottle of Jameson. The family tradition is that everyone takes turns toasting to their worst memory of the year and takes a pull off the bottle. After it's gone around the room, it starts over again and everyone toasts to their best memory. This year we decided to start the tradition of finishing the bottle before the toasting was over. What a great tradition especially considering there was only seven of us doing the toasting. Who doesn't love waking up on Christmas morning with a whiskey hangover? We took a warmup pull, did our two toasts, and then went around the room again for an "honorable mention" toast. I was lit up like the tree by the time we were done.

Today we went back to my parents' for the big extended family lunch. It was chaotic. We didn't help the situation any by bringing our dog with us. For the record, I called first to make sure it was okay but the phone was busy and no one had their cell phones on. Matt and I left a little early to come home and nap and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, one of the best holiday movies ever made. My list of top Christmas movies are:

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
2. Scrooged
3. A Christmas Story
4. Home Alone
5. Mickey's Christmas Carol

Now we're having cocktails and watching movies we got as gifts. I think a leftover sandwich is also in my near future.

Only 16 Work Days Until Christmas!

I left my camera at my brother and sister-in-law's house on Thanksgiving. I should have known that it would get misplaced in the shuffle of the day. As a result, all weekend I felt like I had lost a limb. We put up our tree, but I couldn't take a picture of it. I finished a scarf, but I couldn't take a picture of it. It snowed, Ringo was being cute, I went to another baby shower... No camera. Sigh... I have to get it back this week because I have a couple photo sessions with friends this weekend. My call to subjects turned up about five people who were interested in getting some Christmas pictures. I was really pleased!

I had no desire to go Black Friday shopping in the stores, and after the incident at Wal-Mart I will never partake in it again. But I did have to fight to keep my credit card buried in a basket in my office. It was very tempting to pull it out and click click click on some internet sales. Unfortunately, I've memorized the number on my debit card so that one is even harder not to use. It was a pretty stupid thing to do. Unless I'm ordering a pizza. Then it's the smartest thing I've ever done. I held up pretty well and only bought Christmas decorations, gift for my nieces and nephews and groceries. It was a record minimum spending for a four day weekend in my house.

Oh Tannenbaum!

I was on a mission yesterday to find a white Christmas tree - for under $100. I went to lots of stores and ended up finding one at the place I least expected to. K-Mart. I never shop there! I guess I should more often. They had some of the cutest Martha Stewart decoration collections. My favorite was Festive Confections. I restrained from buying everything in the collection. I ended up getting a pink polka-dot tree skirt and green polka-dot ornaments. I also grabbed a few boxes of pink, blue and black glass bulbs.

Matt refuses to let me put it up before Thanksgiving. What a Scrooge.