So worried and now so excited!

It's been a long time and I'm not even going to try to recap all that's been going on. It's been a long two weeks but the good news is it's almost Christmas and I'm in a very fine mood. Two weeks ago or so, I was really worried about Christmas in general. I need to make a note of this because I'm sure I'll do this again next year. I was convinced that Christmas would be cancelled because I couldn't find anything to get the Puddin' that was not cheesy, stupid and/or ugly. All the things I could think of that he really needs I couldn't get for him. I can't pick out a truck cap for him. I can't pick out goalie pads. Making matters "worse" was Rich's enthusiasm over the super cool presents he had gotten for me. So I was officially the World's Worst Girlfriend because I couldn't think of a thing I wanted to get him. He was going to end up with socks and Vise Grips.

Since then, I have had two fine ideas. One is a bit more complicated than the other, but they both are pretty cool. The most recent gift to arrive is the kind where you wish Christmas was tomorrow just so you could hand it over and share just how freakin' neato it is. So I'm back in the spirit of things for the moment. I promise to share details of all the cool gifts in a few days so as not to spoil any surprises.

We're still not done with our shopping, but it helps that we do our holiday celebrating in waves where we give out office gifts first, then family gifts and then gifts to friends a few weeks after Christmas. I'm all in favor of this plan because it helps keep the idea of Little Christmas/12th Night going and keeps the two of us from burning out.

I think tomorrow will be a day of some last minute shopping and a TON of gift wrapping. Mom came over to help me wrap all the gifts for our office mates last week and it was a fine few hours of mother/daughter quality time. Mom always says that "when she retires" she wants to work as a gift wrapper in a department store. She really does have a talent for it and I meant to take a photo of all 14 gifts that were wrapped in different paper with fancy handmade bows on them. Perhaps she'll come help me again after Christmas for all our 12th Night gifts.

I'll update more later but for now, you can enjoy a goofy picture of Stanley and an equally entertaining picture of Emily expressing her displeasure with our holiday house guest.