And....scene!

What a Christmas! It was sooo nice to have a day off. Doug and I spent Christmas Eve with each other. We went to a candlelight service and then drove around looking at Christmas Lights, as is our annual tradition. We enjoy going out to the country where people are more liberal with their decorations and electric bills. Christmas morning we went to mom's to see what Santa had brought to us. My youngest sister and her husband came too and the four of us squished on the couch.

Heather and Chad....did you have a good Christmas?

After some fun family time and watching my youngest brother rip through the presents (his new toys are the envy of the family...we've all spent the past few days playing Guitar Hero III and the wii) we went back to our house to meet up with Doug's parents.

We enjoyed some more low-key unwrapping and then dinner. After dinner we moved the Christmas presents into the kitchen to be assembled. I have my own little cafe now!

Isn't that cute? The table has leaves on both sides that pull out so you could (squishily) accomodate six, but since it's just me and Doug, folds down to have a small cafe table for two. The new hutch is sooo awesome. I have been longing for some more counter and cabinent space since we remodeled the kitchen this summer. Now my kitchen is *almost* 100 percent done. We just have to finish painting the cabinents and install the new nobs and get a curtain rod. Then...it's on to the living room.

Some of you may remember this past April we lost our beloved dog King. Doug got the most wonderful Christmas present from his boss this year that has been a work in progress since April....he had a local artist do a colored pencil drawing of our dog.

I don't think the picture does it justice. It is absolutely breathtaking how lifelike it is. There is a bit of a funny story behind it though....the artist needed a picture to base the drawing on, but Bart didn't want to call me because he wanted it to be a surprise for me too. So he got in contact with Doug's mom who broke into my house one day and stole some pictures out of my scrapbook. She was telling me the story on Christmas morning about how she didn't know where I was or when I was coming home and she was sweating trying to get in and get out as quickly as possible.

It was a great Christmas all around.....now I get to relax. (as soon as i get the Christmas decorations taken down).

PS. I saved my sanity this year by only knitting two teensy weeny gifts this year....two dishcloths for my mother-in-law. I had momentary delusions of grandeur wherein I imagined giving handknit socks to my mother, grandmother, father-in-law, sister and hubby. Mittens for my other sister and her son....etc, the list goes on. Then I remembered last year and the embarrassment of giving half-finished knits still on the needles and the teasing I still get about the state of mom's other sock and decided I'd rather spend a few dollars at the mall than stress that much about anything. Maybe one day I won't work in retail at Christmas time and I can pull something like that off. Yeah.....right after I grow extra appendages to hold all those needles!