it's a wrap.

blah to glucose testing.

i'm not diabetic, but i do hate how sugar makes me feel-- lethargic and light-headed.

yesterday, i started to panic a bit. 

am i ever going to have my house straightened, my gifts wrapped, my packages delivered?

gratefully, i got a second wind after my kids were in bed.
the professor moved my "brady bunch movies" to the bottom of our netflix que and added "Big Trouble Little China" and "King Kong" type movies.
he was so excited to watch King Kong while we wrapped.
and it was contagious.

yes, we still have many presents to go...

but, it is nice to have a chunk out of the way.

just fyi-- i LOVE hobby lobby wrapping paper.  it's thick and heavy and adorable!!

i don't love cheap thin wrapping paper... IKEA paper stinks.
just sayin.

i didn't have the money to do a different paper for each kid this year-- although i love that idea.
so, i'm stealing another idea i heard... we assigned each kid a different animal.
so, our labels say to... cobra, blow fish, fox, hawk, puppy, spider, shetland pony, grasshopper and lion.
on Christmas morning we'll tell them what animal they are.
kinda fun!!

AND, we delivered some of our friend/neighbor gifts right after school.

AND, we mailed all our packages (except one).

AND, we sent out our Christmas cards...

AND, we've gotten lots of friend gifts and Christmas cards... AND i LOVE them.

it is SO FUN to get mail, isn't it?!!!

AND, we saw SANTA!!!  by accident.

because on our way out of the mall, leah caught a glimpse of Santa at the picture taking station.

i knew i wasn't going to pay $20 for a 5x7 so i tried to usher her past...

but, she insisted that the line (behind the DAY CARE KIDS) wasn't too long.

she was SO excited.  she HAD to ask him where he kept his reindeer.
(they were at his ranch, in the north pole... leah figured it out on the way home, just one reindeer dropped him off then flew home, he'll come back later to pick him up again.)

the girls were darling.  lily kept saying "Hi!!  it's your birthday?" 
Leah told Santa she wants glitter crayons and TWO dog bones for Christmas.  One for her and one for Lily (they play 'puppies' just about every day).

i'm glad i took the time... to wait in line behind the day care kids.

because leah talked about Santa all day long.

and, the mall Santa was darling.   he hugged them and talked to them for a long time even though we didn't pay for a picture.   

i LOVE little kids, and i LOVE Christmas magic.

but, i'm still not sure how King Kong ends...

ps.  are you 12 days of christmasing??
my sister in law just told me that really, in England, the 12 days of Christmas are the 12 days AFTER Christmas.   that sounds fun too...

i LOVED reading about my friend, Valerie's secret santa experience...  you can read it here.

and, here is a link to my mix of 6's 12 days of christmas... she has a poem that tells you a different thing to buy each day to go along with the days-- example- gold things instead of gold rings, pears for the partridge in a pear tree.  it's cute. Remember, if you missed the 12 days before christmas, you could always gift the 12 days AFTER christmas.

Are you doing something fun for chrismas??  I'd LOVE to hear about it.
Leave me a comment and i'll link to you in my next post.
isn't it fun to read other family's traditions?