Happy Christmas!!!

I have to tell you I am SO excited about Christmas this year!! And it feels really good to be so excited about Christmas. As you know, if you are a blog follower, I always have a theme for Christmas. Last year, it was Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas because Christmas last year was little. I was more focused on the recent death of my uncle, and honestly, much more on getting his estate taken care of, amidst hearing through the grapevine that some people didn't think I was smart enough to take care of it. I had to laugh because eventhough it was a big deal, first of all, Uncle Junior was smarter than a lot of people gave him credit for and though there were still times in the last year, I wanted to climb on up to Heaven and kick him right off of his cloud, he did set things up pretty foolproof for me. Second, the things I needed to get done for the estate was seriously nothing compared to the normal day-in, day-out of my job. None of the naysayers were anyone directly involved with the will. In fact, I have a great deal of respect for my Uncle Kenny and my mom. If every family was able to agree on things as easily as they did, wills and estates wouldn't be scary. Anyway, THAT is in the past and this is a new, wonderful, glorious Christmastime. As badly as part of me wants to be sad because it is Robert's last Christmas at home, I am bursting with pride at the young man he has become. I am so pleased with how sentimental he is about the farm and how he really "gets it" the treasure he has been given. The most exciting thing that has happened this week is they framed in what had been a huge hole to the outside. Robert was thrilled because a lot of it, he framed in himself. He is learning lessons to last him a lifetime and he is learning them from his dad. The farm in all of it's memories for me, just added even another chapter as a legacy for the family. So, bring on December!!! I have plans and I am just thrilled to death by all of them. First off, I started today with the traditional Black Friday shopping. I decided since I didn't have my partner in crime this year, because he had to work, I better play it low-key. There was nothing out there that I needed to do the "stand in line or you won't get it" anyway nothing of any big importance so I decided to keep it simple and head to Effingham and Mattoon. I hit JC Penney at 6:00 and was basically in an empty store except for tons of employees. It was eerie. I got everything I went for though. I headed to Menard's and back into normal craziness. I did find a good parking spot and only had to wait about 10 minutes on a cart. I found everything there except two things they were out of, the beard kits, which the guys could have both used and the 13 piece picture frame set. One of the things Robert has requested is a "home" wall. I have random family pictures with the word HOME in big block letters in my entryway. This kit would have made it easier but I actually picked most of mine up at the Dollar Tree so it was no biggie. Anyway, that was still a pretty easy trip, then I headed to Mattoon. Went to Big Lots, Petsmart, Home Depot, Walmart and the headed to Charleston for the sole purpose of hitting Starbucks. A Skinny Peppermint Mocha was my reward for my trip....oh it was good too! This evening when Robert gets home, we will head back to Effingham to Menards, I want a new tree and they have what I want but I didn't want to fight the crowds this morning with a huge honkin' tree. Andrew closes, so we will go in time to be ready to eat when he gets off work. About the rest of my Christmas season.....Decorating today and tomorrow as well as making some of my homemade presents. Sunday, the guys are gonna help me do the outside decs. Tuesday I get to see my friend Patty, and go meet her newest grandbaby, Amity. Wednesday, I am helping with AWANA, this is exciting because since we gave up the high school post, there really wasn't much need for me being there. I helped with the Cubbies, the 3 and 4 year olds, a couple of weeks ago and their director asked if I wanted to help corral them for the Christmas program practice. It is really fun and a HUGE change from High Schoolers. I miss my high schoolers but knew I couldn't keep up with the amount of studying for their lessons this year and didn't want to short change them for selfish reasons. Friday December 6th is our company Christmas party as well as mine and Andrew's 22nd Wedding anniversary. It's a neat year this year because we got married, or eloped, on Friday. So, I am expecting we will find someplace special for dinner that night. The 7th, I am getting together with two of my BFF's from high school, don't know where yet, but the important thing is we are getting together. The 8th we are going to a Christmas open house in Greenup. One of my favorite houses, as well as one of my favorite people is hosting it. The 13th and 14th we are having a couples overnighter with my sister and BIL. We are heading to St. Louis. Nila and I went last year and there were somethings that we thought would be neat to take the hubbys. The 15th is our church Christmas caroling and party, the 18th will be the AWANA Christmas program, and the 22nd will be the Church program. The 23rd will be my last day of work and then.....wait for it.....I am on VACATION for the REST of the YEAR!!!! Yep, really, really gonna get away from work for a while. I don't have anything planned but I am really looking forward to the time to not think about work for a while. Sis and Richard will be here on the 24th for the night and then we will spend Christmas at Mom's. Just all seems pretty darn near perfect. Because of all of this I have chosen this year's Christmas song......always been one of my favorites but this year it is just gonna fit. May you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS...hopefully I will be better about blogging this month that I have the last couple. Enjoy.....