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Christmas Eve services were beautiful, as always. Except for having to constantly remind H. to get the iPod ear bud out of his ear, it went well. He kept saying 'but it's not ON' to which I replied (repeatedly) 'then there's no reason for you to have the bud in your ear - leave it out NOW or I will take the iPod and you won't get it back like your phone, car, etc.'. He finally upon threatening to take yet another possession and restrict it's use took the damn bud out [swearing in a Christmas post doesn't feel right but I can't help it 'cuz it is what it is] and left it out. I'm such a Scrooge.....the kid is trying my patience BIG TIME....

Christmas came and went too quickly....but as hoped, it was a pleasant, fun morning. I was actually up first - which is rare for Christmas day. Could be because I was also the first to bed - and I hadn't finished my 'Santa' duties in setting up the scavenger hunt. Had to place the clues and the treasure throughout the house before everyone was up. The boys loved the hunt - and H. said 'ahh, this is a thinking man's game'. The clues required some thought to decipher where the treasure was - and he liked that, I think.

Chloe had a blast - she got two new toys and was so excited, she carried them in her mouth BEFORE we'd detached them from the cardboard backing! We removed them from their cardboard backer and tossed them up into the dining room and she ran back and forth dozens of times 'fetching' - until she was panting and exhausted and had to take a break. She loves Christmas almost as much as the boys - and her two new toys have been her treasure. She also loves curling up on the couch with her mama for a nap!

The boys enjoyed the morning and the day passed pleasantly. We stayed in our PJ's for most of the day, which felt decadent. Finally got dressed after napping for two hours. Dinner was Raley's Sierra Tender Roast - three different cuts of pork that are tied together. Delicious! Au Gratin potatoes, sweet potatoes and green bean casserole, rolls and sparkling cider. Pie for dessert. It was delicious.

J. and the boys are heading to Oakland to visit J's brother - taking him a Chinese food lunch. I have finished wrapping the last of the Christmas gifts I need to ship (sorry K. & B. & niece H.) and I hope to get to the post office today to get them officially on their way. As always, there's a lot of post-Christmas tidying to do - including needing to work in the freezing garage to sort through stuff before we put the Christmas decorations back up in the rafters this time next week.

I'm enjoying cups of peppermint tea in a vain attempt to stay warm. It's not even 65 degrees in this room and I have on layers and a blanket....I've even turned up the heat and it's still too cold in here. We're looking into adding insulation to the house...we need it. I think the builder took a lot of short cuts and adequate insulation is definitely something I think he skimped on. It's below 60 degrees in many of the upstairs rooms - especially those over the garage - and we really need to find the $ to fix that. Oh, the never-ending list of things requiring money.....right? The joy of home ownership.

We have no plans this week - hopefully attending the annual new years eve bash with friends but we never know about that until sometimes the day of....so we'll see about that. H. doesn't hang out much with the son of our friends anymore...so he may not be on the invitee list - and I don't really want to leave him alone on New Years - so if he's not included, we probably won't go. But it will all work out....just have to stay flexible. We're still working on a lot of culling out - more Freecycle posts today, most likely. The boys haven't mentioned going to San Fran - we probably will but we can't make plans until we know B.'s work schedule, which he'll pick up sometime today. They both have their Christmas money to spend but they're both being so conservative about it - H. doesn't want to 'use it too fast'. Hmmm....

I'm working on moving game files onto an external hard drive - which takes HOURS to do. And then I need to work on setting up the 'file' for all the songs that are on my computer that I want to move to my new, sleek, beautiful iPod Touch. AND I want to workout using my WiiFit Plus 'game' that Santa brought me. A new year...new goals....yes, again. But there's always an opportunity to start over and begin anew - and this time of year certainly highlights that for me.

Still eight days of vacation 'left'....I love that about the winter break....two glorious weeks!! The first week's almost over but there's STILL ANOTHER WEEK!!! Yippee!!

Hope everyone's Christmas was merry and bright! And I hope my family in OKC has dug themselves out of what will be known as the Oklahoma City Blizzard of 2009! Love ya'll!