Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Back at work and I am swamped!!

I am back at work today and despite the fact that our office is pretty empty this week, I am SWAMPED! But I decided to take a short break to let you now about our Christmas.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were so unbelievable stress-free and quiet. Hubby and I truly loved it. On Christmas Eve, we just finished some last minute stuff, I baked 4 loaves of Cranberry Almond Bread and went to eat Mexican food for dinner. Yummy! Christmas morning, we leisurely opened our gifts from/to each other. I am not going to list what I got, because I was incredibly spoiled and feel a little guilty. We were not supposed to go crazy buying for each other since our television died and we had to buy a new one a couple of weeks ago. THAT was supposed to be our Christmas gift.

But Hubby can't help himself. LOL! Fortunately, he did not buy extravagant gifts, just a lot of them. But I loved everything. He also loved all that he received. That afternoon, I cooked a turkey for the get together on Sunday and then baked 4 more loaves of Cranberry Almond Bread, just because I was in the mood.

Christmas morning, we went and picked up Jacob, our almost 4 year old grandson, and got to MIL's around 11:30. Samantha and her boyfriend, John, got there a little later. Then Mere and her brood showed up around noon. We ate first, since everyone was hungry. Of course, Theo wanted to open presents, but we made him wait until everyone ate. We had a ridiculous amount of delicious food!

The boys had a ball opening gifts and we had a ball watching them. MIL gave everyone (adults) $100. Hubby and I had told her over the last couple of months that we did not want her to give us money. Especially when she has some unexpected expenses. We had both told her that if she gave it to us, we would just hide it somewhere in her house for her to find. LOL! She DID give it to us and we DID hide it. She found it yesterday. She called and I again explained to her how much we appreciated it, but we wanted to help her out with Christmas. She thanked me and will keep it. Hubby and I are really glad.

We had a wonderful, wonderful stress free celebration and even MIL admitted that it was really nice splitting it up the way we did, as her house is getting too small for the entire family to be together at the same time. Well, the family is getting bigger. Her house is not shrinking.

Here is a pic of me and my babies:
From left to right, Jacob (will be 4 in February) Theo (4) and Wyatt (20 months) (I told Hubby not to try to get a perfect pic....just to get one. LOL!)

10 comments:

slugmama said...

Sounds like you had just the kind of Christmas you wanted Frances...yay for you!

And yah....waiting for the 'perfect shot' of 2 4yr olds & an almost 2 yr old--all boys! is so not happening. You'd still be trying to hold them now to get that shot.lolol

Frances said...

Sluggy, it was pretty perfect for us.

As for the pics, I never expect perfect pics of toddlers. But my MIL will try forever to get a perfect pic. "Look at me....look at me....over here.....look here." LOL! How does she not know that it ain't happening?! LOL!

McVal said...

I'm so glad you got the Christmas you wanted! Oh to have a stress free Christmas! Not around here...
Good for you! And love your little boys!

Frances said...

McVal, maybe someday you can have a stress free Christmas. You just have to wait until all your kids grow up and move out, then you have to disassociate yourself from all the rest of your family. LOL!

(I am no disassociated with my side of the family, they just live over 600 miles away.)

Together We Save said...

Sounds like you had a wondrful Christms!!

Queenie Jeannie said...

What a wonderful Christmas you had!! Enjoy all your goodies too. Being frugal is awesome, but you have to enjoy some treats too!!!

Your bread sounds divine!! Recipe??

Helene said...

Awesome picture. I love watching little Wyatt grow-they are all so cute.

Frances said...

Thanks Denise, Jeannie and Helene for coming to see me.

Never fear, Jeannie, I am far from too frugal. LOL!

Sonya Ann said...

You look so good in the pic, its probably that healthy, proud grandma glow!

Frances said...

That must have been it, SonyaAnn. Plus that "least stressful Christmas we have ever had with the in-laws" glow. LOL!