We couldn't wait!

Josh and I were too excited to wait for our Christmas (yes, we're like little 5 year olds:)), so we had our impromptu Christmas last night! It was lots of fun! We opened presents, ate finger foods and then drove around for almost 2 hours (yes, we wasted gas, but, it's cheaper than going to a movie) looking at Christmas lights in OKC and Edmond, while drinking peppermint mochas and listening to each of our new collections of CDs that we got for Christmas! I think that will be our new tradition! It turned out to be a great evening!

Just a few pics of opening presents (we decided to take pics of each gift we opened, because I always forget what I have gotten Josh from year to year!):

Josh is a wonderful shopper and fulfilled my list and then some! Thanks, Josh! I couldn't wait to use my new Deceptively Delicious cookbook, so this morning I made the doughnuts. I didn't have a donut pan, so I used mini bundt pans instead, and cut out the middle of each, after baking. Josh really liked them and thought they tasted more like pumpkin bread, which I agree, they were tasty!

Here's what they looked like:

Being Tacky

Well I just got back from a fun night out with the girls from school for our staff Christmas party! We had a yummy dinner at Ted's, with the bill picked up by the school...thank you!!! Then, we headed over to one of my co-workers' homes for desserts and Dirty Santa. After a large Sonic coke, a peppermint mocha from Starbucks (thanks, Josh!!) and tons of sugary treats all day, I was a little crazy tonight! I couldn't stop laughing all night and was just delirious! When we played Dirty Santa, I was number 19 out of 19 players and I of course didn't want to open the last gift, so I snooped around at the gifts that weren't "frozen" and remembered the bucket that included the Blockbuster gift card, popcorn, movie candy and Christmas hand towel. Without thinking, I leaned down and asked, "how much is the gift card for", not even thinking that I was being tacky or that anyone would think twice about what I just asked. But, everyone on that side of the room was laughing hysterically and couldn't believe that I asked such a question. I think they thought I was pretty tacky. But, hey, I was just being a "smart shopper". It's all about a good value:) And, I ended up with a great present that I can share with my husband!

Anyway, it was a fun evening of food, laughter, good times and both arms filled with presents from our directors, the host and the Dirty Santa gift, of course!

I think I'm going to head to bed now, unless I'm too geared up on caffeine!

This is what I woke up to this morning....

The first pic is the view from our front window. It is of an ice-covered tree that is just a bit close to our house and sagging very low.

The second pic is an upclose pic of the huge limb that now resides in our pool, followed by the 3rd pic, which is the same thing.

Yay for big trees, coved in ice, that now reside in our pool! (please note the extreme sarcasm!)

I'm back!

My MESSY kitchen (worse than the pictures capture)

while working on my orders.

Church Christmas banquet-Friday Night

Gran came in town and we had a family dinner on Thursday night. She got to hold Viv for the first time!

Babysitting Viv on Sunday night

Vivian's Baby Dedication at church-Sunday night

(she looked SOO cute!!)

It's been a crazy week! Rather than go on and on about the week, I'll just hit on a few highlights and post pics.

My business and new website (Blessings and Bows) kept me extra busy this week with several holiday orders to fill. It was fun, but time consuming.

Sunday was Vivian's baby dedication at church and we got to babysit her Sunday, too! Monday was chorus practice, Tuesday was school, Wednesday I taught class at church and had chorus practice, Thursday was school and family dinner with my grandmother, Friday I kept Aidan and performed at our church's Christmas banquet, and today we had a chorus performance in Guthrie. I took a 4 hour nap this afternoon and am feeling revived!!

I hope to post more often now! Enjoy my "week in pictures".

By the way, you'll be pleased to know that my kitchen is now cleaned up:)