What happened to December?

This month really flew by!

We took the boys to see Santa, but he was a rude Santa. I took my own photo and it must have made him mad because he waved his hand at me and told me that wasn't allowed (I was supposed to buy from them). Needless to say, once I snapped the photo, he told our boys goodbye. I had to inform them that the real Santa was at the North Pole.

I turned 34 and celebrated by going for a wonderful stone massage. Tom and the boys knew just what to give me! We also had dinner at my parents' house. Two days later we celebrated our 11th anniversary and were able to go to dinner without the boys. Our boys enjoyed their Cub Scouts Christmas bowling party. They were hilarious to watch. Thankfully the gutter guards were up!

We had back to back Christmas programs for the boys and they both did a great job. Somehow they were each standing next to their current "crush" - not sure how they managed that one!

I had a great shopping trip to Louisville with my mom and sister, Adriane. We hit a couple new stores (Martin & Osa and Crazy8) and took advantage of some great clearance sales with an add'l percentage off WITH an additional coupon discount on top of that. It was fun.

The boys were out of school two days the week before Christmas due to snow/ice. We had fun playing outside (me and the boys) and they got in some sledding time. One of these days, I'm going to end up disappointing them when I finally landscape that side of the sidewalk. Then they'll lose their "launch pad."

They did get back to school in time for Kevin's Christmas party on Thursday and Blake's 4th grade auction on Friday. He came home with Boston Red Sox purchases. :)
I thoroughly enjoyed having them home all last week. We had a lot of fun. They were big helpers all month in preparing for Christmas. Last week we made several ornaments for gifts and Christmas cookies, too. Christmas was wonderful. We visited with my Grandmother (above) before we attended Christmas Eve Mass with most of my family. On Christmas morning, we opened presents here and then went to my parents' house. My grandmother joined us for most of the day. Yesterday we had Tom's family over to celebrate Christmas with them.

One of my favorite gifts arrived via mail from Tom's brother, Tim, who lives in Alaska. We now have an autographed copy of Sarah Palin's book. And...yes, it's made out to "Tom & Amy". Thanks to his involvement in a veteran's group up there, he knows Gov. Palin. It was a cool gift to receive.

The boys will head back to school next Monday. I'll miss them. I can't believe 2009 is just around the corner! I need to edit my photos so I can post more to share.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!