Ready?

Ready?  Good question, and the answer to it for me, is "not quite!" Ron and I leave in the morning to visit his oldest son to celebrate Christmas with his kids and grand kids.  I'm looking forward to meeting those I haven't met yet (Terry and his wife, Jaylynn), but am a bit overwhelmed with all that needs to be done before we leave town.  In fact, so overwhelmed that I took off a half-day to try to get this house whipped back into shape.  So far, I've gotten Dan's room, the sewing room and Jana's room ready----but, alas, the living room and kitchen may take the rest of the day.  (time for a lunch break)

Over the last few days, I've wrapped more Christmas gifts that I thought was humanly possible.  Right now they are all stacked up under and around the tree, and even on the table and couch nearby, but many of them will be traveling down to Kerrville with us.   (the empty tubes on the floor are to keep Emmi away from the gifts--she is terrified of those rolls!!)





I have made a few gifts--some of which I can't post on here so as not to spoil any surprises.  One of my favorites is the Tinkerbell costume that I made for Ron's granddaughter, A.   She is a HUGE fan of fairies and Tinkerbell in particular, so I think she'll enjoy this.  Since we got her a new baby doll, too, it was only fair that she have a costume of her own to wear.  I found those great wings at Wal Mart and I'm still working on some for the doll.









Yesterday, after adding the last coat of chalkboard paint to the leftover piece of MDF I've had sitting around my house, I sketched out a holiday greeting.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out and can't wait to see it hung outside my door!  (of course, there is the small matter of talking Ron into drilling into the bricks tonight to install the hangers)



And as a last minute project last night, after picking up Emmi and Tink from the groomer, I decided that they, too, needed some Christmas finery.  Any attempts to get them both in the same photo were unsuccessful, but I think they look quite festive, despite the blurriness of the iPhone photo.





So, the season is upon us and though frantic and overwhelming at times, I feel so very blessed to be getting to spend it with both my own family and with new "family".  I absolutely cannot WAIT to see Jana and Rob, as well as David and his girls, and look forward to a few lazy days with them after some of the chaos has subsided.   So, I'd better get back to cleaning--my goal is to have that part completed by the time Ron gets off work.  It's going to be really cold here tonight, and I'd love to be packing our bags and then relaxing in front of the fireplace rather than scurrying around!