Quick Takes Friday - Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas!  I am taking a break from my travel preparations.  We will be spending Christmas with my family in the mountains, so I have been doing a lot of cleaning and laundry.  I still need to pack, load the car and take a shower before noon - so that's not too much to do in two hours, right?

2-
We picked up Eva's glasses yesterday, and she was amazed at what she could see (like distinct headlights on cars on the way home) and she looks awfully cute, but I haven't gotten a picture of her yet, so I'll try to remember to post one here when I do get around to it.  Her glasses are purple with butterflies on them, and they make her look just a little more grown up, which makes me a little sad, since she is growing so fast anyway.

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I am recovering from a cold, my worst day was Monday.  Well, last night hubby went to lie down for a few minutes when the girls went to bed at 8pm.  I ended up doing four loads of laundry, getting the cat into his carrier to sleep in the house (since it was supposed to be so cold last night, and he just was neutered on Wednesday.) and going to bed.  Hubby woke up at midnight, surprised he had been asleep at all.  I think he must have caught my cold.

4-
NO MORE SCHOOL FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!!!!!  Can you tell that I am excited about that?  I am in need of a good break, particularly from the running Charlotte into town for preschool part.  Still trying to figure out what to do for Charlotte next year, but at the moment, our top idea is a virtual charter - particularly if they do get the contract with a speech pathologist in the nearest big town that they are working on!

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We've let Simba, our kitty, into the house a lot more than normal in the past few days - mostly because we feel bad about him being out in the cold alone right after getting fixed.  It's pretty funny.  Bubba, our pug dog, seems to think that cats should run when he barks at them and chases them.  Simba came from BILs house, and they have a very hyperactive dog that is bigger than Bubba, so Simba isn't scared by Bubba.  Well, that makes Bubba scared of Simba - when hubby and I and the animals were home alone (the girls went to CCD with Grandma, but I skipped because she was showing a movie to everyone, and I wasn't feeling too great) Bubba kept trying to scare off Simba, but Simba would just chase Bubba around the living room.

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We had our 12th church anniversary on Sunday.  Problem is that I didn't remember at all that day, and hubby didn't remember at all that day (we had his extended family Christmas that day), and in fact I didn't remember until my MIL told me she felt bad about forgetting it, and I had to fess up that I hadn't remembered until she mentioned it.  Hubby didn't remember until we mentioned it to him when he got off work.  Yeah, we are pathetic now!

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We'll be doing Christmas with hubby's siblings (and parents) on Monday after we get back from the mountains.  I'm  supposed to stop and pick up some take and bake pizzas on the way home.  That's my kind of Christmas get together - pizza, salad, beverages, and a chance for Eva to try out her new Wii games with her aunts and uncle!

Quick Takes Friday

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Well, it's official.  I am going to have a little four eyes running around the house.  Actually, with how bad my vision is, I find it surprising that Eva managed to not need glasses before age seven.  It looks like Charlotte is following in her footsteps, too.  The eye doctor warned me that she would probably need glasses for near-sightedness in the next year or two as well.

2-
My Bible Study group just finished up "A Biblical Walk Through the Mass" series last night.  I would like to say that I finished it, too...but to be honest, I put my Bible study bag away while cleaning for Thanksgiving, and didn't get it back out until yesterday morning.  So, I read PART of the book, but didn't do any of the questions.  Hopefully I'll get ambitious sometime soon and go through and finish it up.  Good news is that we aren't starting a new study until January - just having a Christmas party.  In January we will be starting the long Great Adventure study.

3-
Our Advent program for Catechism is coming up soon.  Father scheduled the Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Wednesday night (anticipatory) and won't be doing one in our town on Thursday.  Of course, he scheduled it 30 minutes into our CCD classes - and that was supposed to be the last class before the program.  So, on Wednesday we assigned parts, practiced, and did one run through as a group.  I begged MIL to just BUY something this year, but yet again, she insisted on writing something.  So, I spent the time figuring out lighting cues (seriously...lighting cues?  For an Advent program?) and trying to simplify things (I nixed the living nativity set hidden behind four queen sheets painted to be a backdrop...the background is now going to be a painted tri-fold board.)  I am hoping that we either use the church's nativity scene - which would require getting special permission from the family who donated it to the church (they only allow certain people to touch it for putting it out every year...hubby is one of the few allowed to touch it...so I fear it will become our responsibility to do it after the siblings who donated it pass away, since only one kid is Catholic and lives cross country, and the local kids all go to protestant churches now...) or that we can find a nice large nativity that someone else will let us use for the night.

4-
Our winter neighbors have moved in...I hear them mooing right now.  It is pretty fun to watch them sometimes, because they are cow/calf pairs and the babies can walk right under the electric fence - so they are often in our yard.  There is, however, a downside to them coming into our yard...(I'll just let you figure that one out!)

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I am just about done Christmas shopping.  YEAH!!!  I might get a thing or two more for hubby or the girls, and I still need to do some stocking shopping (I know it is not wise to buy candy for stockings yet...) and I still have my parents, my brother, FIL, and my secret sister from Bible study to buy for - and still struggling for ideas for all of them.  I do have the girl's St. Nicholas gifts ready (I still need to wrap them) and I did remember to buy chocolate coins when we were last shopping, since the Feast of St. Nicholas is really sneaking up on me!

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This year, I decided to try a Jesse Tree, so I bought an ornament kit that looked really cool.  I knew I'd have to assemble it, but I didn't realize we'd have to color it, too!  So, today (since it is the first day of Advent that we aren't running all over creation) we are going to get several ornaments colored and glittered.  I had to have MIL pick up glitter glue for me (since I forgot while I was shopping!) and she still has it, so either I have to leave my house today (which is not something I intend to do) or convince her to come over with the glitter glue and help us decorate (she LOVES to make crafty messes, so hopefully this is the option that works out today!)

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Last year, Eva bought a pink pre-lit Christmas tree for $5 at an after Christmas sale, so as part of their St. Nicolas gift, I decided to get them some decorations for the tree.  I found them a hot pink tree skirt and star topper, and a tube of colorful and tiny ball ornaments (thank you Target dollar spot!)  So, they'll be getting those soon.  Of course, I am intending to use the pink tree for the Jesse Tree, so they won't get to decorate it right away.  My hope is that we can do all 12 ornaments between now and the 3rd Sunday of Advent (our traditional decorating day) and then maybe do the O Antiphons?  I've never done those either...but I think the girls will want their tree decked out when we decorate our main tree...and I don't want to have to find something else for the Jesse Tree.