Happy Christmas!!!!

This Christmas was awesome. We got to spend some time with family, ate some good food and spread some cheer. Some of the highlights were some homemade wassail, pickle lights, surprises, and some juicy sordid stories from cousins and mother in laws of cousins. Long story. I won't get into that one here.

My mom is an awesome gift wrapper. Her presents always look like little pieces of art. I like to think I inherited some of that from her. If I'd had more time this year, I would have liked to wrap all your presents for you. Seriously. That's how much I like it.

My dad is a unique gift wrapper. By unique I mean that he doesn't really care about looking "nice" per se. He is all about functionality. He is resourceful. So when we opened family presents on Christmas Eve, he had to run around a little bit beforehand. When I opened up his present, I first had to get through the tissue on top of the bag. Yes, tissue. Singular. Not tissue paper. He just threw a tissue on top of the small bag to cover the present. I know. Then Cody is opening his little gift with the tissue on top, and notices it says "Lacey" on it. He thought he had the wrong gift. Dad assured us that it was the correct gift. Then I looked at my bag. It said "Uncle Don" on it. It dawned on me what he had done. He had taken the bags from the gifts that we had opened not a few hours earlier from other family members. We all laughed and thought how lucky he was that our family members had put our gifts in bags. If not, what would he have done? Used yesterday's newspaper? Classic. Cody wraps presents like my dad. Sometimes I wrap his presents for him like a good big sister.

My mom is a great gift giver. She follows directions well and always goes above and beyond. She has such a generous spirit. She knows exactly what someone will like. I always cherish the gifts she gets us. Like this year she got me a necklace, earrings, and anklet that orphans in Uganda made. Man, she really knows me. So thoughtful, right??

My dad is also a great gift giver. He is very practical--as dads are. He gives gifts like flashlights (not just any flashlight--a Maglite!), emergency car escape kits complete with window hammers and seat belt cutters, and buck knives. Yes, these are all gifts I have gotten. I will say that the gifts my dad gets me are truly unique and I treasure them. Especially this Christmas.

This Christmas he got my mom and his two sisters Snuggies. He thought they were perfect gifts for them. Actually, they are. He got them several weeks ago. Just in case he thought I wanted one, I made sure to set him straight. I would NOT like a Snuggie this year, thanks dad. I thought I was safe. Yesterday under the tree were four leopard print Snuggies. There are four people in our family. He got everyone a Snuggie. Cody was less than enthused. He got Cody a Snuggie. HE GOT CODY A SNUGGIE! A LEOPARD PRINT SNUGGIE! It was awesome. There was some hesitation on my part, but after I tried mom's Snuggie on, I was a Snuggie convert. What was once viewed as an "idiot blanket" now has a home at my house. Really, it's ingenious! Cody's Snuggie, on the other hand, will have to find a new forever home. Shocker, right?






Pickle lights. Actually they're cactus lights. Cody said they look like pickles with mittens and a hat.




God bless us, every one!
Here's Tiny Tim. "Please sir, can you spare some crumbs?" Actually it's Lucky watching us eat Christmas dinner. Pitiful.



Hope your Christmas was awesome and that you got everything you asked for, Snuggie or not.