Merry Christmas!

It has been a very blessed day! Our holiday weekend started Friday as my company gave us Friday and Monday off for the holiday, plus I also took my last 8 hours of vacation time so I'll be off Tuesday, too. We met Amy and the kids and Keith/Lindsay in Wichita for lunch then I let Keith keep my van (his car needs a new alternator) and Amy brought us home. Keith came to town (hehehe! our little town) yesterday and is spending the weekend with us.

We had a lazy morning while I fixed the pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie (nothing from scratch - truly a lazy morning) and then I took the food and the rest of the presents over to Amy/Rex's house. We left here to go over there about noon. I regifted Keith and Lindsay a table-top water fountain that is in the shape of a heart; I'd received it at our Dirty Santa exchange at work and knew it would be perfect for them. She loved it. I also gave her a tote bag from Thirty-One Gifts (I'm going to become an independent consultant for them soon) and a ribbon necklace. Keith also got $20 and a $15 gift card (regifted - I won it in a door prize drawing). He was happy. I pretty much stayed in my $20 per person limit and was able to get them more than one item. Not bad...

I got Amy one of the ribbon necklaces (they were $4 each at the craft show I went to last month; I actually got one for all of the girls) and 1/2 half of a set of Wolfgang Puck Salt/Pepper mill (it was a set of 2 for $24.95; we kept one for ourselves) and a set of storage containers (they're really cool). Rex got K-State shot glasses, coffee cup, playing cards, and key chain. They were both happy. Amy loves the storage dishes. I had ordered enough that each family would get a set (they were on an infomercial and actually something that looked like it would work) but only half of the order showed up. So, we got some, Amy got a set, and Jenny got a set. Keith and Stacey didn't get theirs.

I got the box for Shaun/Jenny and kids sent off last week and she picked it up from UPS on Friday. The kids loved the presents that were in there. I took pictures of the items before I wrapped them.

The big thing I did for Katy was to take a Thirty-One tote and make it into a baby bed/carrier for her. I had her name embroidered on it and she can use it for many things as she gets older. I got the doll and accessories, then some diapers from Anna (that she'd already outgrown), and had a blanket made for her with her name embroidered on it. I think it turned out adorably.

 Before I wrapped it up, I also put a "baby" in the baby doll's arms and the pacifier in her mouth. It was stinkin cute. I liked it so much that I made smaller versions for the daughters of a friend. LOL - they ended up costing a bit more than I planned, but it was all worth it because the girls loved them. I bought three dolls off eBay (one was new and two were used). Oh welll... you only go round once in life and it was important to me to do this for them so they'd have a keepsake. Plus, I did it in stages so it didn't seem like I was spending that much money until I sat down and added it up. LOL ! I was surprised.

These are the rest of Katy's presents. She's got a white cat "ears" and paws" set, socks, jammies, her blanket, a 2nd tote (smaller than the first but I got it on-sale), and some of the doll accessories (I actually gave the bowl/spoon to one of the other girls).

 Close-up of her "paws" and "ears" that I got from Jenny over at Knees and Paws:

Alexander's (some of his went directly to WA):

His ears and paws are wrapped up in the paper behind the Hot Wheels cars. He's got a camo tote (like Katy's small one) He has a really nice easel/wipe off board already at his house.

Zachary's presents. I had him a "taggie" blanket made. The camera I found used and it's just perfect for Zachary. Jenny got the two older ones "kiddie" cameras so I decided that Zachary needed one, too. The jammies I got Black Friday; the race track at Wal-greens on sale.

He had quite a bit delivered to his house directly, too - including a couple of big ride-on toys. Grandma found some really good deals on Kitsap Military Online page and was able to score some great gifts (gently used) and had them delivered directly to Jenny.

A couple of Anna's things. Her basket is full of clothes and has her blanket that I had made for her. The little "bee" in back is a V-tech toy that I got from the Kitsap page and Jenny shipped it to me. The little white thing is a soft lamb - the head at one end and the feet at the other, with the middle being like a "taggie" blanket.

I didn't get any pictures of Isaiah's things before he unwrapped them, but here are a couple of pictures from him opening things.

Did I mention that he loves K-State - so he LOVED his hat! He about didn't want to take it off. I got him some miniature skate boards, a Cars race track, the hat, some jammies, a Mario shirt, a fake Transformer (Wal-greens), and a little remote control car. And... his "big" gift was a Spy Net wrist watch. He can take pictures, video, and it really tells time. He thought it was super cool.

It was great watching them open their presents. Well, Amy opened Anna's but it was all good. I got her a K-State tutu and wrapped it for Rex to open instead. LOL! It looks better on Anna.

I took some pictures of Isaiah and Anna and some of Keith holding Anna.

Jenny's mom and dad sent us a lovely tea set (cups and coasters). They're too pretty to even use! The box they came in is a gift all by itself.

They also sent us a Visa gift card (for $150!!!). Jenny sent us a gift card as well from her and Shaun for another $150 - so, all I need to do is come up with about another $400 or so to purchase our tickets to go see them after Shaun's ship returns from deployment (I've seen Shaun's homecoming each time; Ron has never been and this will be the last deployment for the next several years and I really want Ron to go). We got a pound of Sees candy and Ron got a pound of sugar-free peanut brittle from Sees. Jenny also sent me some scrapbook supplies. Very great gifts!

Rex and Amy gave Ron some nice Dead Sea Salts hand lotion. His hands are really dry and it will work great for him. They had originally bought my mom some K-cups for her Keurig but she got so much from other people already, and she's on a liquid restriction, they gave them to me. Cool... Amy also bought some of the moisturizing cream that I use, so that was nice. Only thing is I have a nearly full container so it'll be sealed up for a while. It's good stuff though.

Keith is pretty broke right now but he gave us $50 last week for something else and said that was our Christmas. Sweet...

Ron wanted me to get an OnStar FMV mirror. It would be something that I'd use and might come in handy, especially considering my commute. It's about $250. I wasn't willing to spend $250 on myself when we're pretty much looking at increased medical expenses starting 1/1/12 and I just spent $324 in car repairs last week. I decided that I wanted to get him a little eReader with a touch screen and found one yesterday at Radio Shack for $100. Ron's birthday is 1/8 so I decided that I'd get the eReader and a leather case - and call it Merry Christmas/Happy Birthday. I knew that he'd be sad that he didn't have anything for me but it was important to me for him to have that.

All in all, it was a great holiday.

I hope your holiday was at least as, if not more, happy and blessed as mine!