So Much Goodness

It's 11:08 P.M. on the Sunday before Christmas, I'm cuddled up with the kitty and the Poodle (who, by the way is sporting red plaid Christmas pj's with Rudolph on the butt) and watching Christmas movies by the glow of the tree lights and the computer screen. It's been a good weekend. Life is good. I am content. And blessed. And so very, very thankful.

Friday I picked up one of my clients in the morning. After a quick stop at my employer's offices (I picked up the paperwork for a new client) we went shopping for the gifts we would need for my Bible study group's Christmas party on Saturday. My teacher was nice enough to invite my client when she met her at the Christmas Tea at church. We found her gift right away at Sam's Club. It took me a bit longer and a stop at Walmart to find everything I wanted.

Shopping done, we picked up lunch and came back to the house. We ate while watching Christmas Vacation. Then I showed her how to make pretzel snaps with a Hershey kiss and an M&M on top and then we made her favorite peanut butter blossoms. We packed it all up for her to take home to share with her co-workers at the soup kitchen.

Saturday morning the kitten was on my "naughty" list (He climbed up on our headboard at 12:30 A.M. and threw up. A lot. Then he jumped down on the bed and did it again. Ewww.) but he still woke me up when Tim got up for work. I couldn't fall asleep again so I stayed up and finished reading book 28 in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.

I picked up my client and we were at the party by 10 A.M. We enjoyed a wonderful brunch of French toast casserole, scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, fresh fruit, and so many kinds of baked goods. After we ate the men blessed the women by doing all the clean up and dishes. What a wonderful gift! 

The fun got started then as we women did our annual gift exchange. We all bring a wrapped gift, then draw numbers to determine the order in which to pick from the pile. Each person, on their turn, has the option of choosing a gift from the pile or "stealing" a gift that was already chosen. We didn't do any stealing this year for some reason so it was a really short lived game. We open the gifts one at a time so everyone can see and ooh and aah. Finally, nearly everyone brings some small gift for everyone there. This year everyone went waaaay overboard and just blessed the socks off everyone....and it was so sweet that everyone included my client and she was just so tickled to go home with a huge bag full of gifts (she has no local family and her parents have both passed away).

Later on Saturday I went out to finish my Christmas shopping. I went to Barnes & Noble and...the mall. Pure insanity! I don't think I've seen the mall that crowded in at least 15 years. Most of the time it is a dead zone with the exceptions of the hub stores and the casino. Anyway, mission accomplished! Tim and I went to a little local restaurant for dinner. 

On Sunday I was up early again as Tim had to do some work at a hotel he built a couple of years ago and it could only be done on a weekend. It just worked out to be this one, which kind of stunk since Sunday was his birthday. 

Megan, the kiddos and my mom came here around 11:00 and we had four generations making cookies. Good times and happy memories, I hope.

Tim got home in time to have himself a birthday nap and then enjoy his birthday dinner of grilled steaks, shrimp, and cheesy mashed potatoes. Colton and Leah came back after that and we watched The Santa Claus 2 so Mommy and Daddy could do some gift wrapping.

So, that was the weekend. It was so full of good stuff that I almost feel guilty for feeling so blessed. I hope you had a good weekend, too, and that you're enjoying this special season of love, hope, and joy. 

Tell me something good about your weekend!