Just a little more Christmas.......

It's late Sunday night and I am going to turn in soon. The day has been kinda crazy. It started off okay with plans to go visit my daughter and grandson but then the power went out. Don't know why........just poof! and it was gone. Luckily my husband's cell phone was charged because mine was dead so I gave her a call to let her know I'd be running late. Funny how something so simple can change plans. Taught me that I need to keep my phone charged and my husband is thinking he should have checked into a generator. I don't worry about power outages in the summer. They're kinda cool and usually go along with lightning and thunder and I enjoy both of those things. I get out the candles and a good book and I enjoy the quiet of a power outage. That is not the case in the winter!! In the winter, a power outage means - no heat!! And considering it was only about ten degrees outside, that is not good. It only lasted a little over an hour but it sure made me appreciate the electric company!! :-)

Actually, I left the house just before the power came back on. I headed down to see Collette and Jacob and there was no power outage in Mankato. We had a nice lunch at the Food Court in the Mankato Mall. I came bearing one last Christmas gift for Jacob. It was from my sister and came in a box she sent to me. I took a picture of the package because she wrapped it so cool! Those are little foam letters for his name and there are tiny little Christmas trees glued to the ribbon. It was almost to pretty to unwrap but Jacob did a good job of it and got to the toys inside. :-) We did a little shopping/looking in the mall. We found some good clearance deals on sweaters at Penney's and Jacob got a special treat so we had a good afternoon. Then it was off to the grocery store for me and I love to go grocery shopping so I enjoyed that, too! By the time I got back home the power was on and all was back to normal.
Speaking of normal.........the weatherman says that we will have some more normal temperatures in the next few days .... in the 20's ..... and that would be practically be a "heat wave" after all this "deep freeze" weather that we have had lately.
One last little thing......in that box from my sister was the book you see in this photo, along with a few other gifts.
She sent the book with a note that said "I usually treat myself to Christmas fiction book each year and bought this one and thought you might enjoy it because we had an aluminum tree". Well, I certainly did. It was such a good book that I shared a bit about it at Bible Study last week and now it will "make the rounds" of the group. Doris is reading it now and then it will be passed around. The author also wrote "The Christmas Quilt" and I have never read that so will put in a request at the library. Thanks, Judy!! It's just a very charming story so I can definitely recommend it. :-) I also read "Calico Christmas" and "Christmas in Harmony" between Christmas and New Year's and they were also good little books. "The Aluminum Christmas Tree" was my favorite. :-)
Time to turn in.........Another Monday rolls around and another week begins..........Have a good one!
Sandi

Happy Christmas Pictures.......

Here are a few pictures from our family Christmas Eve gathering......We started with a ham dinner. Steve cooked the ham, I did the rest. :-) Please note his red plaid shirt. Next year there will be a red flannel shirt theme to our Christmas. Collette has it all planned. :-)
Prior to the big snowstorm's arrival, we were going to attend the Christmas Eve service at church but the snowstorm changed those plans. I must admit that it was kind of nice to eat a leisurely meal and not hurry to clean up and get out the door and yet I missed not attending the service. I was just glad we were all together and safe, what with all the snow and icy roads. Finally, Jacob asked "when are we going to open gifts?"...........and so we did. He was wearing his Minnesota Vikings Santa hat the whole evening. :-) There were Transformers, cars, books and a couple of electronic games so he was a very lucky boy.
All of us big kids were lucky, too......this is Collette and I getting all excited over Martha Stewart glitter assortments that Devlin gave us. He needed an idea for us and I suggested it. Nice. :-)

I am opening a big gift that Collette wrapped in fabric because she couldn't figure out how to easily wrap a Croquet set. I forgot that I had suggested this way last fall. Nice, again. :-)

We got Collette a new iron because that was what she wanted. Jacob didn't think that was a very good gift as he said "you already have an iron, mom". Yes, she does, but she is happy to have one that will work better. :-)

Our son-in-law Daryl, is a Star Wars fan and he is way happy with his gift of the Star Wars Encyclopedia. He didn't even ask for this because he didn't know it existed. We found it at Barnes and Noble and knew it was "just right". We lucked out for Devlin, too, as he wanted some computer thingy that Steve found and it was just what he needed. Stacia was in Iowa with family so her gifts went home with Devlin.

Here's Jacob still wearing the Santa hat and opening more gifts. :-)

Then there was the gift that Daryl got for Jacob because when Daryl was little he enjoyed playing it .....sorry I can't remember the name of it but Devlin had it, too, and could remember playing it. (Pat came to the rescue.......it's "Rock 'em, Sock 'em, Robots!!") Collette couldn't remember the game at all so Devlin gave her a boxing lesson and showed her what it was like to be a kid again. :-)

The "kid in me" loves to fill the Christmas stockings with lots of good little gifts and some gag gifts, too. Steve is in charge of filling the stockings with candy. Each year, I start right after Christmas collecting the things that will end up in everyone's stockings. Most are just right and even the gag gifts get a good laugh. Here's Devlin with his gag gift.......it's a giant "grow snake".....you know, it's one of those you put in water and wait for a few days to see it "grow". He always said he wanted a snake and I thought "no way". Now he can have his snake and grow it whenever he wants, too. ;-).

We had a very happy and blessed Christmas together. I hope you all did, too. :-)

Sandi