I'm Done! (almost...)

I'm done with Christmas shopping, paying, lugging home and wrapping for Kev, Joycie & Sam! Yay! And as of this past Monday morning, I wasn't even half-way done yet. I was sick with the 'flu last week for almost 4 days, and then spent the weekend trying to get caught up on my job, so this week has been a flurry of catching up. I just finished more than 2 hours of wrapping.

I have pretty much all my shopping done, just a couple more little things. I finally got a box mailed out to my best friend in Texas, just this morning though, so there's only a slim chance of it arriving by Christmas... very slim. She is well used to me being late all the time. I think this is the 3rd Christmas in a row that my package has arrived at her home late. My best friend is very patient with me.

I still have to wrap all the gifts for my family and my in-laws. I've done all of the shopping and will do all the wrapping, with no help from Kevin. But since he's been working midnight 12's this week and also quite a bit of overtime a week ago, I cannot complain. He provides plenty of moral and monetary support.

So now I'm pretty much back on track. I am usually finishing up about this time, always a few more little things to buy or make. Christmas day itself is what stops me. Which is why I don't ever try to start shopping early. I'd just keep going...

I actually got our Christmas cards mailed out today, too. I took my own advice and made them on my computer with preprinted everything. No handwriting at all. Period. Return address labels and recipient address labels. No handwriting. I enjoyed it! Simultaneously with experiencing twinges of guilt for not penning a personal little missive. But I squashed that by reasoning that this was the only way they were getting a card, so deal with it. I even included a wallet-sized photo of the kiddos, which I printed last night. It was not a great picture, but I could not find one great photo of my 2 kids together. I searched through the hundreds of pictures I've taken this year. And then the color was off on the ones I printed anyway. Oh well, better luck next year.

I really liked the card I came up with... mostly because I kinda sorta copied one that was in the Metropolitan Museum of Art gift catalog. I used a photo of our front yard with snow laden branches and Reilly running through the snow, printed in black & white with a red border and "Warm Wishes" below it. Joycie and Sam thought it was very cool.

Kev and the kids just got home from their shopping trip in town (for their gifts to me), and now they're downstairs in a wrapping frenzy. The pingpong table is pretty handy. Sam has resigned himself to no pingpong until after Christmas.

And now I need a beer.