'twas the day before Christmas

I guess it's time I get with the program and start posting some entries too.

We've been trying to balance the getting ready for Christmas and having some fun too. I think we finally finished up shopping for the stocking stuffers. It's hard to find good little gifts to fill up a sock, especially when we're too practical. I'm thinking maybe we just fill them this year with fruit. Maybe some nuts. Nuts would fit us fine. Yeah, let's go nuts.

So a little over a year ago, I received some movie tickets that have been sitting in the dresser drawer since then. We discovered that they were going to expire, so finally we used them on Tuesday and saw Enchanted. Cute flick. We don't make it to the movie theater much these days, so it was nice to get out.

Wednesday, Wendy had her book club girls over for dinner. Of course they didn't discuss the book at all. I suspect any book group is just an excuse to get together and chat. Sometimes they do discuss the books they read. Maybe I ought to start a movie club for the guys and we can "discuss" the movies we see. How about the Simpsons Movie? I'm willing to see that. Anyway, the dinner was tasty and the best part is we now have plenty of leftover ham available for breakfasts. The way I look at it, ham is designed to be a breakfast meat. Another reason breakfast is the most important meal of the day, no matter what time of the day you get around to eating it.

Saturday we spent most of the day at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house. I helped Grandpa make a present for Grandma, Ellie took a short nap in Grandma's crib, and Wendy, after seeing an Alton Brown episode on the subject, made homemade marshmallows. Those were pretty good. I'm excited to make rice krispie treats out of them and to have hot chocolate with them. Although the rice krispie treats might have to wait for another batch.
Later Saturday evening, we got home and made the traditional gingerbread cookies. Sunday morning, we gave a little gingerbread man to Ellie. She had a hard time bringing herself to eating a little man. After a while she would finally nibble off a little piece -- part of it's head or a hand, and she would say, "Oh no!" Very sad, indeed. But she kept eating, and with each bite would say, "Oh no!"

Sunday at Church we were invited to come watch Ellie participate in a live Nativity put on by her nursery class. Of course she was kind of distracted when we were there, but she did go up when it was her turn to be an Angel.

After Church, we went down to the farm to have the annual Christmas party with Wendy's parents and brothers and sisters. That was fun, and Ellie loved playing with her cousins. And there was too much good food there. I'm going to have a hard time this time of year keeping my momentum going and keeping off the 40 pounds I've lost so far. Oh well. It's Christmas time!

Merry Christmas!