December Daily 24

Ahhh Christmas Eve. How did it get here so quickly? I wish I could say by this day I was 100% ready and relaxed. But that is not exactly how it went down. As a matter of fact, the Grinch made another appearance.

This morning began with a last minute trip to the grocery store to buy supplies for the Kemp Family Jello I was to bring to my dad's tonight. It was crowded but that was expected so no big deal. We got what we needed and headed home. I no sooner began to make the jello than I realized I forgot to buy the JELLO! Hello?! The recipe calls for two large boxes of strawberry jello. My cupboards had Raspberry and Cherry. It was going to have to do because I was not getting the girls back in the car to brave the grocery store again. So I averted that crisis.

I was on a fairly tight timeline and time was fast escaping me. The girls needed baths and I had to get Makaela down for a nap or we were going to have problems when it came time to leave the house at 4:30. Baths were taken while I finished up some wrapping. After that I realized I hadn't even given Makaela lunch but I laid her down anyways. Fortunately for me, she was forgiving of this.

I got the girls laundry going because of course what they were to wear tonight wasn't clean. Then while that was running Hannah and sat down for a bit to watch Elf. She loved it. I loved it. I was smart enough to begin doing her hair while watching the movie.

All of this forethought and we still ran late and out came the Grinch. Makaela wouldn't sit still while I tried to tie a little bow around her head. GRRRRR! I lost it for a few seconds. We were in the car at 5:10. The car needed gas but I decided to go straight to my dad's anyways. Thankfully the light did not come one.

We got to my dad's house and were able to enjoy a wonderful evening. Food, stockings, and presents. But time always gets away from us there and my concern over having left the dogs in the backyard for a long time began to stress me out. My plan was to leave their house by 9:00 and we didn't leave until 10:50. Sigh!

But we got home to relatively quiet dogs so hopefully my concerns were for nothing and there won't be yet another Humane Society Sheriff coming to my door to notify me of neighbor complaints. Yes, we have had two already. The first one resulted in me getting ticketed because their licenses are not up to date.

So we got home. I got the girls ready for bed and we red "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Once they were fast asleep Joel and I turned into Santa. Presents put under the tree, stockings stuffed. I am currently locked up here in my scraproom while Joel does his thing downstairs. It's kind of neat because there are things that he gets the girls that I have no clue about. And he has been told what I bought the girls but he hasn't seen it. It' not done this way on purpose, but it's how it works out. We never have time to shop together. He's always so thoughtful in his gift giving for me. Usually he outdoes me big time. I hope it's not a repeat. I know I got him some things he'll like, but they're practical things. Snore!

Oh well. So it's now 1:00 AM and technically Christmas. I realize I have not yet posted my previous days but will try to get to that soon.

With that, I say to all of you, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!