Our holiday

Our last day of school was Dec. 19 and boy were we all ready for a break! The kids at school could hardly contain themselves anymore and my girls were just ready for some serious down time!

That Friday was a minimun day so we got out at 12:40. I had my girlfriend, Tracie's, daughter (who just happens to be Brooklyns best friend as well) with me. We had to run to JC Penny's to pick up the pictures of the girls and my nephew so I could get frames for them for my MIL and my grandma for Christmas. After that we went to Bereans where I was sneaky and got Jordan and Brooklyn their own bibles for a Christmas gift..I have become pretty sneaky over the years in buying gifts for the girls when they are with me...I think it is a skill aquired once you have kids! :O) We also went to the mall to see the big man..yes Santa pictures! Now the little girls were very excited..however, Sydney not so much!LOL! She was highly upset with me for "not telling her that her picture was going to be taken", you know when you are almost 12 you MUST look perfect at all times, plus I'm sure she felt she was much too cool to have her pic taken with Santa! TOO BAD!! If I want your darn picture with Santa then that is what I am going to have!!! ;) So I get a pic of all 3 girls together then I get one of Brooklyn and Kylie, they were very cute! While we were at the mall I picked up a Boston Celtics #1 Fan license plate for my FIL, he was raised in Boston and loves the Celtics to this day. I also got my cousin a Patriots freezer glass and John a 49er freezer mug (which just happened to be one of his favorite gifts!LOL). We grabbed a Wetzels Pretzel and then headed out. I dropped them at dance and went home to do some wrapping. It ended up being a long day, but a productive one as well.

That Saturday the girls had a Christmas show at the studi...from 10 until 3....3 seperate shows every 2 hours or something...that was a loooong day!!! The girls did a beautiful job though and loved every minute of it, especially Sydney! They had a gift exchange according to age levels after the show, Brooklyn got some really cute clay ornaments and candy, Jordan got a High School Musical fashion book something or other (she loved it) and Sydney got a tie blanket from one of her best friends! She loves it! It was so cute because her friends mom was so excited that Sydney got the blanket! We crawled home and went to bed after all that! That Sunday we went to church and saw a performance of stomp to Christmas music...it was fabulous! The youth groups put it on and did an amazing job! At one poing they had Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus on stage with "Mary Did You Know" playing and on the screen they were showing scences from "Passion of the Christ", it was very powerful and very moving, not a dry eye in the house! We went to lunch with our friends (the one who was in the really bad motorcycle accident in Sept, he is doing great and is looking forward to a full recovery soon we are hoping!). They gave us a totally unexpected gift..a $100 gc to our local grocery store! They said it was their way of thanking us for helping them when Mike was in the hospital...I say it was us just being friends when they needed us and they would have done the same for us if we needed it. So it was a ncie way to start the holiday!

John had to work that Monday and Tuesday, so the girls and I were home just hanging out and cleaning up. Christmas Eve we went to my Grandmothers house after we went to the candlelight service at church, it was absolutely beautiful! My grandma and aunt went overboard as usual! The girls got lots of clothes, Brooklyn was thrilled with all the Jonas Brothers stuff she got! Sydney was happy with the new pair of skinny jeans and really cute sweatsuit she got. Jordan loved the peace sign shirt she got...she is so easy to please I swear! We got home late of course and the girls fell asleep. It was raining and cold, so I was happy we had some winter weather! John and I were up for a bit before Santa came watching Dog the Bounty Hunter!LOL!! We finally crawled into bed around 2..not too bad for Christmas Eve I think!

The girls got up around 7:30, so that is an improvement from years past! :) They were really happy with their gifts. Sydney said she wanted clothes and that is what she got! She was so excited and hung everything up right away...the clothes thing is waaay easier than the toy thing btw! Jordan was pleased with all her soccer stuff..new ball, new shin guards, etc. Brooklyn loved all her Polly Pockets stuff! Then they noticed a bunch of stuff behind the tree and when they saw it had their names on it I thought they would ecplode! They opened the big one all together and Santa outdid himself and bought them the Wii!!! They were stunned! Yay Santa!

Later that afternoon we went to my in laws and had Christmas there. They got some Wii accessories and new Vans shoes (which they loved!). The adults in the family draw names and buy for that one person so I got a new bread machine from my Secret Santa...I love it and have made a few loaves already to rave reviews! I was Johns Secret Santa, he wanted new shoes, and I wasn't about to try to get him some, he is sooo picky about his shoes! So the day after Christmas we went to the outlet mall and he got 4, yes 4 pair of shoes! He got 2 pair at the Addidas store (they were buy one get on 50% off!) so along with his 2 pair and Jodans cleats we only spent $96! Very good prices! Then we went Steve & Barrys where he got 2 more pair of shoes for $7 each! WOW!!! YAY!!!

Jordan had a soccer camp to go to the weekend after Christmas and had the best time! There were a few pros there and she learned so much! It was chilly and sunny...perfect!

For NYE we stayed in and played games all night. I had some wine and boy did that make me tired! I guess the days of partying all night are long gone for me!!!LOL!!! I went to bed around 1 and John and the girls stayed up til I don't know when! We got up and watched the parade and football games. It was a very nice a family oriented holiday. John has never taken that much time off from work before, it was so nice to have him home and we didn't have to be anywhere we didn't want to be! And now we are back into the full swing of things..school, dance, soccer, and Girl Scouts! Ahhh, it was nice when it lasted, all that peace and nothing to do!LOL! Happy New Year to you all!!!