christmas randoms...

My goal was (always is) to have my Christmas cards in the mail by December 1st. 

The 15th at the very latest.

Well.....



These suckers went out like 4 days before Christmas, and it was a miracle they got into the mail at all.

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I love cards, sending and receiving, and I love writing them out, but this year for some reason they were just a thorn in my side (and clutter on my table) the WHOLE month.  Not next year.


Our lil Elf on the Shelf is named C Jr.  When you open him, you have to give him a name right away but of course all 3 of the girls picked different names, no one wanted to give in and agree on a unanimous name, so we took the first letter of each of the names they picked (I forget what they were, it's written in our Elf on the Shelf book) which happened to be C J R which turned into C Jr.  Like Carl's Jr.  And equally as tasty.

But C Jr. sure was a mischievious fellow. 

I'm pretty sure he hid my ipod from me for a good two weeks just to be funny,

and he may or may not have stolen $25 from us! 

He's very tricky:











He was so out of his element in San Diego, you could tell he missed the North Pole and snow at Christmastime:

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We walked through Christmas Circle this year.  Partly to walk off the big meal we'd just had, and partly because my check-engine light is on and I would never live it down if my car broke down and had to get towed out of Christmas Circle and backed up traffic for miles and miles.

I actually preferred walking it, although next year it'll be nice to plan on that and have the appropriate coats & scarves.

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Sweets for a little friend:

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These pretty wrapped packages were one of the highlights of the Christmas season for me.  They went to friends of Jesse & their girlfriends, who were SO not expecting anything from us, and had nothing for us in return which made it so much more fun, for some reason. 

The girls went with Jesse to give the gifts and I'm sure his friends felt awkward not having anything to give in return, but it took away the "chore" of gift-giving (the obligatory "exchanging of crap" that Christmas can turn into) and just made it fun to give.

The girls actually said, out of their own mouths, with no coaxing from me, that giving gifts IS a lot more fun than receiving them.  I was proud.  :)

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My favorite night of the Christmas season, except for Christmas Eve:

We watched Christmas movies with the heater on (our version of a fire in the fireplace), ate popcorn and drank hot cocoa.  By the end of the movie, everyone was cuddled and asleep....even Missy.  :)