Almost a New Year!

We are home from our trip north and have enjoyed just having time to hang out and do nothing! We were here at home for Christmas morning and the kids finally woke up around 7:30. DH and I were sure that we would be awakened by them at about 5 a.m. - but instead we were awake first! We opened our gifts here and then headed north.

The trip was going great - very light traffic - until we got to the south side of Nashville. There was a accident that happened about a quarter mile in front of us and blocked all four lanes of traffic. We sat completely still for an hour. After seeing no police coming (firetrucks and ambulances arrived right away) , all the traffic decided to try to do a 180 and drive the wrong way down the shoulder. We were in the far right lane and decided to stay still. We had already seen two tow trucks driving down the shoulder with cars that had had fender benders BEHIND us. It was pretty scary to watch people in the far left lane trying to turn across four lanes of traffic. Five police cars finally showed up to direct traffic around the remnants of the wreck.

The kids barely made it through dinner before wanting to rip into the rest of their gifts. First we played a dirty Santa game - where I somehow ended up with one of my great-aunt's quilts. (I will post a picture later.) Then when we opened our regular gifts, my mom had made me a lap quilt in Christmas-y colors. (Again - pictures to come!) The picture above is of the wall hanging I made for my sister. She is the one who first introduced me to Denyse Schmidt quilts. We both fell in love with her style and fabrics. This is made from Denyse Schmidt fabric that I ordered at Susan's store! I am hoping it matches the colors in her dining room.

We had our big Christmas dinner on Tuesday afternoon. We ate a lot but there was still a ton of leftovers. Unfortunately, my mom's frig decided to die at some point during the night on Tuesday - so Wednesday morning we had to throw everything out. We were all so sad! My dad kept asking if we were sure it was spoiled. The temp was above 80 degrees in the frig - I am sure it was spoiled! DH and I were still craving leftovers so last night we cooked turkey and dressing here at home! Yummy!

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's! We are planning to hang out here at home and be in bed before midnight. Yes, we live on the wild side!

An early Christmas

Ever since my kids got sick in October, I feel like I have been running in circles. There were several weeks in November where I had one or the other of them home from school everyday. Maddie was the worst - I was afraid she was getting pneumonia again, but she didn't. We are all on the mend now.

For Thanksgiving we headed to Arkansas and then to Nashville. On our drive up to Little Rock, me and hubby came down sick. By the time we got to bed that night, I was running 101.5 fever. We survived the week of travel and made it home safely.

Then came the start of the Christmas rush. I was the PTA chairperson for the school bookfair. I tried to keep my schedule open in case anyone called in sick and I needed to fill in. Amazingly, every single person showed up to work! The librarian said that was the first time that has ever happened.

The kids are now out of school and hyper! Yesterday we concentrated on organizing and cleaning Maddie's room. And today was Ian's turn. Ian feels the need to keep every little scrap of paper he has ever drawn on (a trait he gets from his daddy, the architect).

Yesterday, Christmas came early to our house. First of all, three packages arrived. One was from my mom - stuff for our stockings. One was from Stacy's brother and SIL - gifts for the kids. And one was from Nines - for me!!! Yeah!! She made me a lovely scrapbook of our quilting retreat at my mom's house! She is spreading her talents to other things besides quilting.

My DH also decided we each needed to open one gift. He claims he was worried he might have to exchange my present - but after opening the box, I think he just wanted me to be able to play with it! Ian was convinced it was a sewing machine because the box was so big! That would have been ok too! It was a lovely Dell laptop. It is so nice to be able to sit on the couch and surf the web!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. Hope everyone gets all of their christmas quilting done in time! Tomorrow I need to get a wallhanging quilted. Nothing like waiting till the last minute!