Random Christmas Things

Santa is Dad?

Ronnie thought it would be fun to dress up like Santa at work and take pictures with the kids that came in with their parents to shop. I thought that sounded really cute and very unlike him. He is usually such a Scrooge around Christmas time because he has to put in so many hours, but not this year. He is actually going into work on his day off to do this. I got a call today from him saying that he doesn’t really like the Santa suit they had on hand and I offered to find him a different one. After first looking on the internet I concluded it was going to be hard to find him a nice looking suit for the money he wanted to spend so I turned to my secret source (my mom) who suggested a guy from our church who works at a costume shop. Problem solved, my husband will look like a very nice Santa and gets to stay under budget. Now all I have to do is to come up with a story to tell Lana why her dad is dressed up like Santa.

Work Holiday Party

Every year the dreaded day comes when Ronnie informs me of his work Christmas Holiday party. This year it’s a little different in that he is actually more in charge of it than in years past since he is finally the big boss man. He has said he doesn’t want to have a lame Christmas party, which they usually are. Sam’s Clubs have to have their parties in the store which makes for a great venue…NOT. Most of them are adults only (no clue as to why), but Ronnie’s party will be kid friendly, not because he wanted it that way but because that’s the way it’s always been at this store. I probably will not take our kids because of the time it occurs, after 7:00pm something happens to our kids that is indescribable. Ronnie works in Cub Scouts with a guy that does magic, a nice connection to have. So he has enlisted the help of the magician in efforts to make the party not so lame. In the past parties I have been to there have been high school choirs, strolling carolers, amatuer stand up comedians, and high school drama classes that have been our source of entertainment. While this “entertainment” is going on people are eating dinner and talking, I always feel so bad for the entertainers that I end up in a lousy mood. The magician is going to wonder around from table to table doing tricks so hopefully people can put their fork down and zip their lips for a few minutes to see a magic trick and all will go well. Let’s all cross our fingers that it isn’t lame.

Christmas Cards

In my feeble attempt to de-commercialize Christmas I try to make our Christmas cards. Each year as soon as the cards are in the mail I start to think what I will do next year. I usually go through many ideas before I settle on one. Ronnie gets so busy around Christmas and can’t help make them unless I get started on them early. He even gave me a date once, Oct 31^st, which I have yet to start making Christmas cards that early yet. The cards have been in getting ready mode for about 3 weeks now, the mode where I have the idea in my head just nothing tangible yet. Last night we made our first card of the year. Once that is done then we can start an assembly line and crank them out in no time. I try to keep one of our cards each year so we can look back and see what worked well and what didn’t work at all.

2002 Christmas card (I think, I don't see Lana's name so I"m guessing at the date)

2005 Christmas Card
(by far my favorite, but never try this with a 2 year old)

2006 Christmas Card (it folded up into it's own envelope)

Caught a Cold

Hurray I got a cold early this year. I always get one, and this is perfect timing, right before the crazy part of the Christmas season. Hopefully my immunities will fight it off fast and I will still have lots of immunities built up to ward off anything until after Christmas. Last year I got sick two weeks before Christmas and it was horrible. I got well and ran around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to tie up all the loose ends.