At this time of the year, we receive catalog after catalog in our mailbox. Today I think I counted over 16 of them... one of them being a cigar magazine. Seriously? A cigar magazine? I will never understand how we got on that list.

But the one surprise in our mailbox today were Chiefs playoff tickets - for 2 games - for some to be determined date in January.

The Chiefs are 7 and 4 - doing okay - but I guess we're in a wildcard position right now. And with the holidays approaching and all, I guess they think the extra $560 from us earlier rather than later will help keep us from spending it all on Christmas presents.... or property tax... or a plasma tv. Well, scratch that last priority- that's definitely not in our budget. But Chiefs tickets are always in our budget and rank right up there with utilities and the mortgage. My die-hard family will be hoping and praying to use those tickets sometime in January.

And don't forget to look for us if we're at the playoff game - we'll be in RED!

Labels: fun

I found this at Katrina's blog and just had to do it. I thought it would help me get into the holiday spirit (as I'm sitting here watching Charlie Brown's Christmas with Perry). Nothing like a 1965 classic to get you in the Christmas mode.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate. I've never liked Egg Nog. Ever. But if I had to really choose a hot drink for the holidays it would have to be Starbuck's Gingerbread Latte - that is totally yummy!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? In our house, Santa just sits them under the tree so that Perry will see them the minute he comes down the stairs (after sitting on the stairs for at least 20 minutes or more waiting for his grandparents to arrive so they don't miss the surprise!)

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White lights on our trees and red and white lights on our home. The red and clear lights on our house make it not only look holiday festive, but Chiefs festive!

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No - I don't. Odd that I never think about hanging mistletoe at all. Maybe that's something I should start!

5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually the day after Thanksgiving. This year we are doing things a little differently... Christmas in Stages.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My mother makes the best dressing (stuffing) in the world. That would also be another great question... Do you call it stuffing or dressing? We call it dressing in our family.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Waking up early on Christmas morning and heading to my grandparents home in our pajamas. My grandparents only lived 10 minutes away, but we never opened presents in our own home. Ever. It was always at my grandparents home. Santa always knew to go there and not come to our house! Even as teenagers, my brothers and I would get ourselves up, pull on sweats and head over to my grandparents early in the morning.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I absolutely don't remember at all. Probably from kids at school, but I have no memory of when it was.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Not really anymore. When Phil and I dated and were first married, we would open our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve to make it more special. We would turn on the tree lights only, put on a little Nat King Cole Christmas and just enjoy the time that would be for only us two since we knew that the next day would be completely filled with family and fun. That was our time. We don't do that any more now though (sadly) because we are always buying ONE BIG GIFT for both of us now, instead of the individual surprise gifts.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? I would say that it is very traditional. I reuse many of my bows every year and I just have fun with all of the ornaments. Every year we open up all the boxes and bubble wrap and all the memories come flooding back about each ornament. We have all kinds - Hallmark ones that are symbolic to us each year; ornaments that we buy on vacations; ornaments that I had when I was living in an apartment with my friend Laurie the many years before I was married. It's like going down memory lane with each different ornament.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it when I am off work! Hate it if I have to drive in to work.

12. Can you ice skate? Nope.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My boyfriend at the time (now my dear husband) bought me beautiful diamond earrings that fit in my second holes in my ears. It was our first Christmas and we had only dated for six months, but that was my absolute favorite present. I never took them off. Ever. Until he got me another larger pair after Perry was born. And they have never come off either. Ever.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? I want them to not be so hectic and crazy. I just want to be with Phil and Perry... taking the time to relax and enjoy the love that we have for Christmas and each other.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? My mother's chocolate pie. Her pie crust is from scratch as well as the chocolate filling. It is unbelievably rich and the best dessert I have ever tasted.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? A tradition that Phil continued with me was going to his former in-laws house for Christmas Eve. Even after he and his ex-wife divorced, he was still considered a very important part of their family. After we started dating, he brought me to their house for their annual Christmas Eve dinner and we have continued that tradition now with Perry... it's been over 14 years now and I consider Christmas Eve with "his family" one of my favorite holiday traditions.

17. What tops your tree? An old-fashioned Santa Claus.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving... and also finding that perfect gift for giving!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by The Barenekked Ladies. But my seriously favorite Christmas song would have to be O Holy Night... by just about anybody who sings it.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?? Yuck - they are too much of a sticky mess to me!

Labels: Christmas

Last week on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, our family decided to put up Perry's new Christmas tree. His old one was falling apart - literally - and we threw it away after the holiday season. This year we bought a new one on sale and decided that we should put it together in hopes that it was a beautiful fake tree, as well as a good buy, and not one that we were going to have to take back before the shopping season began.

After the tree was up and the decorations were carefully placed (all in the front and in the middle, thank you very much Perry), it really helped us to get into the holiday spirit.

But I had 20 people coming to our home on Thanksgiving, so I wasn't about to mess with anything else in the house at the time. I have beautiful fall and harvest decor and it was time to live life one holiday at a time.

And there's something else you must know about me...

When it comes to Christmas decorating, I'm a little Type A and must obsess/detail/agonize/complete the entire holiday decor in one day. I will not go to sleep until all of the decorations are in their place and the house is in order.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving, and I'm slowly losing my voice, along with a very stuffy head and nasal gunk. I have 20 people in my home, I'm as tired as can be, but thankfully it is family and they we can deal with each other. Then on Saturday, I hosted a brunch with another 20 people in my home and couldn't get them out of my house fast enough so that I could visit a minute clinic at our local pharmacy. I was tested for strep which was thankfully negative, but was diagnosed with a mother of a sinus infection and thankfully this nurse practitioner had mercy on me and prescribed me an antibiotic. By Sunday evening, I was starting to come out from under my sinus cloud and began to think about Christmas decorating.

So on Sunday evening, we decided to decorate our family tree in the living room. It only took a little over an hour and a half, and we felt like we accomplished another holiday feat.

Tonight after dinner, I hung my lit garland on the staircase which also only took a little over an hour. My house is looking rather festive now - but I'm still not finished. As I look over in the breakfast room, my husband has placed over 7 large totes that contains all of my Christmas decor. They are sitting there tempting me, but I'm not going to even open one of them.

And they will continue to sit there until probably Wednesday morning - my day off. And if it doesn't get finished on Wednesday, there's always Friday.

I'm taking a new and fresh approach to Christmas decorating this year - Christmas in stages - and it feels really good.

Labels: Christmas

It seems as if I have been not blogging regularly. I don't know really why. My mind is full of things that I would love to blog about such as...

• Perry's 2nd grade program. Over 120 2nd graders performed this past Thursday (3 times), and it was really quite the musical adventure. The lyrics of the musical geared toward staying healthy and "feeling good, good, good, good, good." Perry was given a speaking part - much to his delight. Previously - before speaking parts were given - he had told me that he was going to tell his music teacher that he wanted a speaking part. So I asked him why he felt the need to tell this to the music teacher and his words were "Mom, I'm very confident and can talk very loud in front of 6,000 people." Okay then. Go right ahead and tell her that first thing tomorrow. Well, turns out he didn't have to after all - he was given a speaking part without the confidence speech. I'm assuming everybody already gets that part about him.

• On Friday I met up with 5 girlfriends of long ago. Funny how you can not see each other for over a year, but conversation is as easy and flowing as it was when you met more often. I love that in girlfriends who really know you.

• Just today a co-worker I haven't seen in awhile stopped me and said she didn't know me. I love those kinds of compliments, but I also informed her that I was "just a holiday season away from gaining it all back." I need to keep reminding myself that daily. I. do. not. want to gain my weight back. I must keep on track.

• All of our family is here for Thanksgiving. I'm having 24 people for lunch on Thanksgiving Day. I say we are having lunch - not dinner - since the Chiefs are playing at home and 3 of our family members will be headed out to the game unusually early that day. One of them being my husband. It is also going to be unusually warm on that day here in our town. I may be turning the AC on with 24 people in my home. Erin and Darla - if you are reading my blog - don't forget your blankets!

• Oh - and about my heading - why does it feel like a Friday? Because this is my first and last day of work this week! I'm taking the rest of the week off - and using up some much needed vacation. Although, 24 people in my home on Thanksgiving is not really a vacation, they're family and I love them.

This is a scene outside a Best Buy somewhere in the United States. I saw it on one of my daily read news sites. It's not the Best Buy near my home, but it could have been... this is exactly what I saw this morning after my Starbuck's run. If I had a camera with me this morning, this is the vision I would have captured.

Tents were lined up and down the sidewalk in front of the store. Literally hundreds of people waiting for the new PlayStation 3 that will be on sale at midnight - about 3 hours from now. I bet these people are counting down the minutes right now.

I'm wondering how many Starbuck's runs they have made in the past 3 days. That's right - 3 days these people have been camping out for this gaming system.

Craziness - what more can I say?

Sunday afternoons during the fall. Cool and crisp with the sun shining. Beautiful weather. Yet there is nothing I enjoy more than sitting in our comfy theatre chairs in front of the television watching the KC chiefs play football. It's a tough game right now - we are losing at halftime, but there's still no better place to be with my family.

Sunday afternoons also offer a time for reflection about the week, and thoughts on what the new week might bring. Here are some of my random ramblings about the week...

• I have not mentioned the fact that our new puppy Shane does not live with us anymore. I have avoided the topic at all possible costs because it relates to my character and neuroticism and I'd really like for nobody to think differently of me. After 2 weeks in our home, the wonderful, calm (yet pee happy) little puppy that invaded our home is now gone. It was a choice of either me or the puppy, and after a long family discussion, my exceptional husband and son thankfully agreed that I was more important than the puppy. They tearfully let him go back to his foster mom and our comfort zone has once again been restored. As my husband stated yesterday, "it has been a lot less stressful, but I do miss him."

• I went to book club this week and had actually finished the book. I say this with tongue in cheek because I have attended book club a couple times this past year, acting like I had finished the book, when in all reality I had not. Usually nobody even notices. This fiction story was a really good read... Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It was a bit of a surprise read because I actually did not think I was going to like it when I started it. After getting into it though, I couldn't put it down. What an interesting story about life in the circus. It was also a book on my Fall Into Reading challenge that I have finished.

• On Wednesday morning, we awoke to the news that a democrat had taken over in our state. We were disappointed. On election night, Phil and Perry went grocery shopping and discussed the election and the voting process during their spin in the aisles. So on Wednesday morning, Perry ran into our room, climbed up on the bed with me while Phil was in the shower, and asked me who won the election. When I told him, his mouth dropped wide open, eyes staring at me seriously, then with a slight whisper asked "Does Daddy know?!" I guess all that political talk made an impact.

• I lost 3 lbs. this past week. A total loss of 42.2 lbs. I think the stress of dealing with the puppy business helped shed some of the lost pounds.

• My husband and I had date night last night and the highlight of our date was visiting the new Crate & Barrel in our city. It was big, beautiful and definitely very cool. The lowlight of our date was that I ran into an ex co-worker. Ever have one of those times when you see someone that's just a few feet from you in a store and you know that you want to turn and run, yet you don't know how you can escape without being seen. That's how it was last night.... only no running, just had to go with it.

Football game's over - tough game - we lost. Oh well... at least I got caught up on my random thoughts for the week. Gotta run to Costco now.

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have high neuroticism. It's easy for you to feel shaken, worried, or depressed. You often worry, and your worries prevent you from living life fully. You tend to be emotionally reactive and moody. Your either flying very high or feeling very low. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is low. You're a pretty conservative person, and you favor what's socially acceptable. You think that change for novelty's sake is a very bad idea. While some may see this as boring, many see you as dependable and wise.

I'd say this was pretty true to myself for the most part.

More about my openness to new experiences being low to follow...