Surviving Christmas

Doesn't that sound awful??? That is, however, how I felt. I also feel as if I was sort of cheated out of Christmas this year. I know, I know, more belly aching - oh no, that was to come later - ugh!! We had planned a very nice family Christmas that was to include JuJu (my Mom) and Church and s'mores and a nice dinner and a little champagne and of course some VERY excited little ones who were (finally) on their best behavior and were desperately trying to make up for lost time, so to speak!!! Hehe!! All did not go as planned, however!! We did get to make the s'mores and Mom did make it here and everyone else (but me) had a good dinner. Church did not happen, though, because of a time mistake and dinner didn't work out too well for me because, well, I got SICK!!!!! SO SICK!!!! ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!! I threw up from 9:00 Christmas Eve night until about 6:00 Christmas morning - yuck!! Poor hubby was left to fend for himself as I tried to help in between "episodes!" Just trying to keep the kids from getting out of bed until Mommie was well enough to witness the Christmas reveal and not throw up on it, was quite the feat, but hubby was up to the task, roping off the den with a carefully worded threat (I mean note) taped to it!! Hehe! I will not complain anymore about it but wanted to explain my lack of Christmas posts and pics! I did manage to click a few post worthy pics of our s'mores...











Some marshmallows fared better than others



but that didn't deter hubby



or Emmeline!!!



In the end, the kids had a wonderful day and that helped Mommie to feel better. We even made it back to JuJu's house later (much later) for Christmas dinner and more gifts (like they needed anymore) and (drumroll please) the eagerly anticipated Gingerbread house!! For those who have never made the wonderful Gingerbread house, please take note. Do not wait 2 weeks in between making said house and eating said house. As the dinner was done and the kids gathered round, mouths watering, the house of sweet delights was brought to the table and...





was hard as a rock!!!!!





and in the end, only the strong survived...







Miss Lizzie May!!!!!

We even got to spend some time with extended family and friends.



and the boys were more than willing to help out, especially when it meant earning some extra time on their Christmas present - an XBOX. Already regretting that momentary lapse of reason!!!



All in all, I really cannot bellyache (please no more belly aches) about our Christmas too much. We have been blessed beyond blessed and the things that are important to me were all here, surviving Christmas with me. Next year however, I think bathing in antibacterial gel might be on my Christmas "to do" list!!! Hehe!!!

CWA's little girl's file to be returned!!!

First of all, I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!! I would love to be able to post some lovely, heartwarming pictures of all the kids gathered round the tree, however, I, being the number one picture taker, was violently ill ALL night on Christmas Eve and am just now starting to feel somewhat normal again!!! YUCK! Will have to see how hubby did with the camera and post what I can later.

I wanted to get this post up because this little one's time is running out quickly! I have had a couple of people ask about her, so felt like it was important to post about her again. This precious one is 8 year's old and is listed with Christian World Adoption. I emailed them about her this week and was told that no one is currently looking at her file and it is to be returned in January because they are getting another huge list of kids. They do not know if her file will go to the shared list or if she will be deemed unadoptable. Please tell whomever you can about this little one. She is just so cute and looks so sweet and so shy. Her special need is Type B Mediterranean Anemia. I do not know much about this SN other than it can be VERY manageable. This is what is written about her:

She was sent to the children welfare center on Sept 29, 2001, now she is living with foster family. She is a student of first grade. She is a little slow in learning but she is a hard working girl. She is serious about learning. She can manage her daily life and also tries to help sometimes such as washing clothes, sweeping the floor, cleaning dishes. She is a cheerful girl and loves to laugh. She likes to do rope skipping with other kids; she likes to play with dolls and other kids’ games. She is a polite girl and is polite with others. She loves to help other kids. She respects teachers in school. All teachers, foster parents and other students love her very much.

They have video of her that will just break your heart! Go here to email CWA and get the password. Please help!!!

As you can imagine with 5 kids and 2 dogs (not to mention 2 foster puppies) and a cat, I have been VERY busy trying to get ready for Christmas. I think I spent 2 hours just wrapping gifts tonight, just to have them ripped apart day after tomorrow!! Sigh!! In other words, I am being lazy tonight and just posting lots of cute pics and video from our Christmas cookie and Gingerbread House making adventures. To preface, let me just say that we all survived. The house, the kids, the tummys, the Grandmother and even the parents!! The cookies, however, weren't so lucky!! Hehe!! I am still scraping sprinkles off the walls and the ceiling and the dogs!!!!

I rest my case!!! Hehe!!



Such concentration!!

















In the end, they all had their masterpieces!!



Charlie's needed it's own zip code!!



and they ALL needed napkins!!!





Now on to the Gingerbread House. This was our first year making this and I have to say that it was a lot of fun, even though every single child made a Gingerbread House this year at school, of course! What's up with that???













Scrumptious, don't ya think??? Will let you know after Christmas, that is if I get any!! Hehe!!



New home construction - hard work!!!









Gotta end with some sister Christmas cuteness!!



and the final Christmas Card pic



Merry Christmas!!!!

Sunday Snapshot

This week's Sunday Snapshot is about Christmas. Stefanie asked for suggestions on just what to feature and I decided that I would feature some of our Christmas ornaments and decorations that have special meaning to me. I also HAVE to add the "out-takes" from the 2009 Christmas card photo that I have YET to mail!! My friends and family may be getting an Apres Christmas Card this year!! Hehe!! As always you can grab the button and join in!!



When I was a little girl, I LOVED Mary and the story of baby Jesus and the Nativity. So much so that when I was in middle school I wrote, directed and of course played the part of Mary in a Christmas play called, "Let's keep Christ in Christmas!" This was wwwaaaayyy back when Xmas had become the thing to say and I hated it!! I mean, honestly, who in the world started that anyway!! How lazy can you be to have to write or say Xmas instead of Christmas!!! Anyway, that year for Christmas, my parents gave me a handmade nativity scene and it was the most beautiful nativity scene I had ever seen and I have treasured it ever since!!! I have to say that it is the best gift I have ever gotten and my all time favorite Christmas decoration.



One of my other favs is a beautiful angel that was given to me by my beautiful Mother-in-law. She had it made from a handkerchief that belonged to her Mother-in-law whose name was the same as mine!! It is another one of those wonderful gifts that can be handed down and has such love behind it!



One of my other favorite decorations does not have history or love or any special meaning behind it! I just thought it was great when I saw it and perfectly suits us down here!!



Next, I have to feature some of the ornaments on our tree. Our tree is not fancy or designer in any way. It is, however, full of child made ornaments, puppy love ornaments and ornaments that remind us of all the beautiful blessings we have in our lives!!!

This one is from Hubby and my first Christmas together. It was just us and our 5 dogs!!!



This one represents all of the many ornaments that we have that holds our precious pictures. I say every year that I should get one of those fancy ornament trees to show off our picture ornaments but I am afraid that then, our poor tree would be bare!! LOL!!



This ornament is brand new this year. I thought I would try to give Lizzie an ornament each year to represent her birth country. This one says Merry Christmas in Chinese.



We also have an ornament for every dog we have ever had. This one is Tippy's ornament. We lost Tippy in October of this year.



We also have many child made ornaments such as this one that I will always treasure!



The topper for our tree is a sweet and very old angel. This angel was actually in a bouquet of flowers that my great aunts had given me when I was about 3 or 4 years old. I fell in love with that angel and insisted that we put her on the top if our tree every year. Now, the kids take turns each year placing her on the top of my "grown up" tree!! This year, it was Lizzie's turn.



The last decoration I would like to feature is an ornament that was made by our friend/babysitter last year. It was Lizzie's first Christmas with us and our very sweet friend painted some ornaments for us with the kids' hand prints. It was the first time Lizzie had ever decorated anything with her beautiful little hand print. Lizzie has missing, fused and small fingers and I just adore her very unique little hand print. Since then, she has decorated lots of wonderful things for us with her hand print but that very first one on that Christmas ornament last year, will always be the most beautiful to me. When I brought it out this year, it took me right back to Lizzie's first Christmas with us last year and how very far she has come!!



And as promised, the Christmas card pic out-takes!!







Needless to say, we are still working on it!!! Photoshop here I come!! Hehe!!