Merry Christmas!

Hi all! Hope you all are keeping your heads above water during this crazy busy time of the year. I am, if only barely! :)

Today is the last day of school for the boys until January 5...Zack has been cramming for finals over the past week or so, and very glad to be finishing up today. Aaron woke up today with a fever, cough, and a sore throat. Hopefully he will fill better before Saturday, because our plan for that day is to go to DH's brother's house in Atlanta for his family's Christmas gathering. If he's still sick, I'll probably end up staying home with him and sending Zack and his dad on. No sense in all of us missing out on the fun. I'll be calling the doctor's office this morning to see if they can fit him in today. He's with his dad right now, and I'll be relieving his caregiving after lunch today.

After today, I'm off work until Wednesday of next week -- yahoo!!! :) Since I've finished decorating, shopping and wrapping, I'll get to enjoy some downtime, instead of dealing with frustrated angry shoppers. Double yahoo!!
A friend and I were planning on taking Aaron and her son to see H*appy F*eet on Friday afternoon, but now that he's sick, that plan may be out the window. We'll have to play that by ear, I guess. I do plan on doing some baking (the W*eight W*atchers friendly kind -- down nearly 9 lbs now in 4 - 1/2 weeks, thank you!) and putting some goodies in the freezer. We've been invited to Christmas Eve lunch at a friend's house, which means that we'll probably be there until we leave for our church Christmas Eve candlelight service, which starts at 6:00. Last year it was a tough service for me, and by the end, I found myself bawling my eyes out, missing my parents dearly.

We're giving Zack our used laptop that we updated with new software for Christmas. He's been wanting one for awhile, and we figured that it will be used frequently, and he'll need to take one when he goes off to college in a couple of years (sniff, sniff). And, as much as he's on our desktop computer working on projects and reports, it can free up our computer more for the rest of us. :) Plus, my company offers an interest free computer loan to their employees with 25% down, so we will be taking advantage of that benefit at some point this next year. Besides the computer, we got him some clothes, and robe and slippers. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to add...Zack got his braces off about 3 weeks ago!! I'll have to find some before/after pictures to post (his school pictures this year were awesome, even though they were taken just before getting the braces off - so I need to scan one of them to post).

Aaron's big gift request this year was a scooter, so we got him one in his favorite color, blue. He's played with Zack's used one for a couple of years now, and *still* loves it so much, we thought he deserved (a new) one of his very own. We also purchased him some various X-box and Nintendo games that he had requested. We picked him up a new robe and slippers too, simply because he is growing so much, and nearly out of his current ones. He will be playing handbells at the end of both worship services on Christmas Eve. They will be playing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!" from the balcony that's seen only from the foyer, as people are leaving the facilities.

DH is off all of next week, and plans to take the boys and visit his brother(s) for a couple of days. Speaking of DH, he told me that he didn't want me spending much on him, because of the "spending money" that was used in NY when he was there a couple of weeks ago. He had a fabulous time, and managed to see all the sites that he wished to see, but also managed to come home with blisters upon blisters on his poor feet. I did manage to pick up a couple of needed things for him to unwrap on Christmas morning, a gift from each of the boys, and one from me. He desperately needs some new shoes, but wants to wait until after the holidays to shop for them.

I pray that each of you have a wonderful, blessed Christmas and that you all have safe travels if you get on the roads. And remember what this season is truly about, the birth of God's holy son, Jesus Christ.