Taking a Break

  Well, here it is Christmas Eve day. I've got all the gifts wrapped and hidden, my deviled eggs and potato salad is made, and soon I will put on the pasta sauce and meatballs and sausage to cook on low overnight for the stuffed shells tomorrow. I have my ham marinating, and ready to put into the oven in the morning. I still have to steam and season my shrimp. Last night I made 15 pounds of potato salad, half of which went down to Joe's because of his christmas party tonight. I also steamed and seasoned 2 pounds of shrimp for him, made 48 deviled eggs for him. I was cooking until 1am this morning, and Rebecca woke me up at 7am, grrrrrrrrrrrrr. She was sad, she thought today was christmas and wanted to know why santa didn't leave her any presents, awwww. I told her it ain't christmas til tomorrow. She says, Oh silly me, I forgot, lol.

I went out earlier and got a few stocking stuffer's for her stocking. One being a 14 inch wooden Nutcracker figurine. I don't know what it is with this child but she loves nutcrackers. She says they are soldiers and guard her house, lol.

Dinner tomorow is a big one. I have 20 people coming over, yikes where they all gonna sit. Oh well the floor is carpeted, lol. My menu is as follows:

Appetizers: weiner wraps, steamed shrimp, olives (green and black) pickles, crackers and wine cheese.

Dinner: Baked spiral ham, potato sald, mixed veeggies, deviled eggs, stuffed shells with sausage and meatballs, dinner rolls, salad.

Dessert: Warm cinnamon buns, cookies. Fresh fruit.

Beverages: Beer, soda, coffee, tea, hot chocolate.

Saturday morning we were up and out of here bright and early. Jim and I had the grocery shopping and christmas shopping all done by noon. We chose 1 store to do our christmas shopping at, and that was Target. I got some awesome bargains there. A complete outfit for Rebecca for under 5.00, so I got her a few of them. Got my granddaughter a couple also. I got Emma 2 cotton tops for under 6.00, for the men I shop for it was sale sale sale, lounge around flannel pants, socks, boxers, flash lights. I got Jim a portable vacuum for him to clean the van and some cologne, Preferred Stock, I love that smell on him. I found Rebecca 2 pr of longjohns for girls, and got her a pair of footsie pajamas also. She needs warm things to sleep in. All her pajammas are for summer and she is forever kicking off her covers. I spent 11 hours in the kitchen yesterday, wrapping gifts and cooking. Needless to say today I am exhausted. I am burned out completely. It took me 3 hours to clean my kitchen today. Thank goodness Jim cleaned and vacuumed the livingroom for me. I still have the bathroom to clean, but I will save that for after Rebecca has her bath and is in bed for the night. By the time I am finished cleaning it, she will be fast asleep and I can put the gifts under the tree.

I got 4more cards since friday. They are from Ellen, Nelishia, LisaJo, Mandy. Thank you ladies, I love each one of them. I want to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of you who sent me a card, also want to thank you all for your kindness, prayers, warm thoughts and most of all for your friendship. You all mean so much to me. Your always here when I have to vent, rant, or am feeling so down, and your comments always cheer me up. I may not be blessed with wealth, but I am blessed with a loving family and a new family here in Jland. I'm not certain cause he wrapped it before I got to it to peek, but I think Jim got me a new camera. My 35mm bit the dust. Well, hope you all have a safe and happy christmas, full of family, love, good food and lots of nice gifts. But also remember the real reason for this holiday. It is to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Happy Birthday Jesus.

                

A special thank you to Debbie and Donna for their lovely tags I used in this entry.