Out with the old...

In with the new???


Actually I would prefer to not have anymore "new" thank you. We are at max capacity here at the Casa de Insanity. I have been going from room to room the past week cleaning out clothes and toys that have been outgrown in an attempt to find space for our children's fantastic Christmas booty. No, not the kind of booty you get from eating too many Xmas cookies, the loot, treasure, gifts, etc etc.

It really was insane this year. My family asked well in advance of Christmas what everyone needs. I said that ALL they needed was clothes and socks and TB needs jammies. Besides my SIL who bought the girls clothes, a friend who gave both girls pjs, TBs god mommy who bought her a gorgeous dress, and my mom who bought several pairs of socks....they all got TOYS. Heaps and heaps of toys and other junk from the obvious, to the random, obscure, and just ridiculous. While we are very thankful for these gifts bestowed on our precious offspring, we find ourselves cursing every time we trip over a toy in the middle of the night and it lights up and starts singing. EVERY SINGLE TOY FROM MIL MAKES NOISE. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mom was a little kinder offering silent gifts.....well, unless you count Drama's MP3 player. Oh yeah....did I tell you about that? The Duke and don't even have one and our son is jamming around the city bopping to his favorite downloads. Does an 8 year old even need an MP3 player?

She bought the girls dolls, and matching rocking chairs. They are actually quite adorable. And the dolls are the blonde Bitty twins from the American Girl line (more on this subject later.)

Drama also got a casio keyboard from the Duke's grandma. Cool I thought....until I realized it was a circa 1979 mini synth with a missing battery compartment door. "Mom, why do the batteries keep falling out?" he keeps asking me. I just tell him b/c he is "rockin'" He's really into that sort of stuff right now. She also gave Sunshine our (1 year old) a make-up bag with a breakable mirror and about 10 fun size Nestle Crunch bars. Um....did I mention she is 1???

The Duke and I did our celebrating after the holidays. There was to much going on and we ran out of time on Christmas Eve. So, we ad Christmas the Thursday after. It was nice. I finally got that Amazing Grace perfume I have wanted FOREVER (thank you Sephora for opening in JCP). It is the only place I know you can get it. He also bought me a cashmere sweater and 2 medieval CDs that are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All luxuries that I didn't need, but happily received.

The biggest present of them all was the HDTV my folks gave us. Talk about indulgence. I don't know how we could ever watch regular TV again. We didn't even really want one, but dad decided we needed one, and it had to be now.

All in all, we are grateful that we were given anything this year. I honestly don't care about getting suff during Christmas, but more about the season's meaning and being with friends and family. That is what makes me happy. And as far as that goes, this CM kind of stunk for me. With my parents leaving my church, and hubby having his own church service to do music for, it was either go with my folks, or go alone. I missed CM Eve at my dear church. It was hard. I love my church's CME, and being without it made me feel sad and lonely. As the Duke squeezed in just before Communion at my parent's new worship place he mentioned how happy they looked to have their grand babies there. That made me evening worth it. Even though I didn't get my candlelight "Silent Night"...I was giving something even better than the gifts under our tree.

We are so thankful for the "gifts" we were given in 2007 and look forward to a new year of God's blessings.