Merry Christmas!

Since my sister came for a visit last week, it's seemed like Christmas for awhile now.  This past week my mom was off for the holiday break from school, which was good because she had about a million projects (check out her blog at http://lifeatthecasa.blogspot.com/) and for me Christmas has been coming since I ordered my new Mac and iPhone, purchased some new shoes and other things via the web, and bought a car last week (more on that to come,with pictures).

So yes, I finally did receive the federal money I had been waiting on and in case I hadn't updated this blog enough, I found a place (a duplex really nearby off the Paul/Rupert highway), bought a 95 Nissan Pathfinder to take my stinkhounds and I on lots of adventures, and while much of the other stuff was necessary, I have to admit the grey Ugg Boots were just because I wanted them.   I'm moving a week from today and my blessed family is helping me... again.  But this time I should be here awhile because I signed a gym contract here.

This was the best Christmas I've had in a long time actually.  We all agreed as a family that we wouldn't do gifts and if we did do gifts, they had to be homemade or gifts of our selves in some way.  For example, I got a wonderful calendar with pictures of my niece from my brother's family and a CD with tracks my brother recorded of him playing his sax and reading his favorite piece of poetry as well as some of his favorite jazz favorites.

I got to watch my mom and dad's gift early because I helped copy the DVDs for everyone.  My mom sent everyone a survey to fill out and then used a scrapbooking program to create a scrapbook using pictures from the past year and our answers to the survey to make a DVD of our family memories.  It made me cry because watching it and looking over the last year of my life, it didn't feel like such a waste.  Pretty amazing gift.  The last few weeks with my family really have been a gift.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

We ate dinner with our extended family at my aunt's house.

My brother, two sisters-in-law, and Dad all play at my aunt's house.

My niece likes the guitar her grandma & grandpa got her for Christmas 

(and that her grandpa made sure was properly tuned before they wrapped it).

My brothers and sisters-in-law hanging out.