3 Down, 2 To Go

Back to work today. God, did that suck getting out of bed this morning! UGH. Yesterday PC and I went out and spent one of his gift cards - I LOVE after Christmas sales! I found something for my half sis, KR. Just have to finish up Mom, Chica, Dad & B.

We did a very low key Christmas thing this year, even though we are still not done. Christmas Eve, Girl and I sang at 6:00 mass and then headed over to Meem & FIL's with the boys for Christmas Eve dinner. This year, we did fondue. SmallBoy thought it was just the coolest thing to be able to cook his own food. He dipped the beef tenderloin and LOVED IT! Wait, it gets better.....the other alternative was shrimp. He tried it. HE LIKED IT! I was just floored. Perhaps it was because no one told him that he HAD to try it, that he thought it interesting, saw others enjoying it and figured, what the hell, why not?!

Sunday morning we got up, did our unwrapping and sharing and snarfed down some Pilsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls (those are SO EVIL!). PC remembered that I had talked about all of the loose pictures that I have from my trip to Italy in 2001, so he found the most exquisite, leather bound photo album for me to store them in. It's absolutely beautiful. Now, all I have to do is FIND my photos...I think they're in my closet.

Meem got me a Marti necklace!!!!!! I'd show you the pic, but I got the one in the picture, so it's all gone. This one is similar, though, as it was my back up in case she had already sold the one I wanted. You'd love it, though! Go over and check out her pottery site and you'll see what I mean about how awesome her work is.

SmallBoy did great with our weird schedule. He and I sat down on Thursday evening and just took a piece of paper and wrote three columns on it: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We wrote down exactly what was planned for each day and a rough time frame for each. I taught him about "ish" time which turned out to be a HUGE help. In the spots where he was going to be with his dad, we left the boxes blank. I told him to fill those in with his dad. I also told him that some of the things might change because schedules get so hectic at the holidays. He LOVED it! He even sat through Christmas Eve mass and behaved! The boys sat separate from Girl (she sat in the loft with the choir) and me (I sat in the front of the church as I had to sing the mass parts and lead the congregation). At one point I looked over and I saw LargeBoy and I saw the woman on the other side of SmallBoy, and they were both looking at SmallBoy (whom I could not see). I was up singing in front of the whole church trying desperately to figure out if something was wrong. It turns out that the woman next to him couldn't get over how well he was behaving and was telling him about what a good boy he was. It was really cute to look over during another part of mass and see him just singing away.

I think until I get totally organized, I will keep this "ish" schedule going. It helped him to see and be able to visualize what was going on, where things MIGHT change, and what was definite. He was able to bring the schedule with him to his dad's and didn't even lose it!

So, today is back into our regular routine - ok, MY regular routine, except that I only had to wake PC this morning instead of everyone. Tonight, more Christmas shopping because I still have 2 more Christmases to go - one tomorrow with Dad (which I thought was Thursday, so now I'm panic shopping), and one on Friday with Mom. Then Saturday is New Year's Eve and mine & PC's 1st annivesary! YEA!!!!!!!! Did you all survive? How are the kids faring? How are the Hanukkah celebrations ( I think it's cool that everything started together this year)? OH!!!!!!!! And please stop in and see Griffin's Mom. She is home and excited to be with Griffin again and most anxious to hear from everyone!