Better Late Than Never...

I'm thrilled to say that the Christmas decorations are finally ALL put away.  That includes the ones that inevitably are found roughly fifteen minutes after I have filled all the tubs, returned them to the closet, and closed the door with a contented sigh.  And no, it has not escaped me that I didn't share a Christmas post for 2009.  I'm doing it right now!  ")  For those of you as obsessed with the film "A Christmas Story" as I am, you should have no trouble identifying the shapes of my Christmas cookies this year.

Here are my two incredibly beautiful daughters on Christmas morning digging into their stockings.

And here they are opening the much anticipated Barbie's.

For those of you who don't know the story...

Both girls had asked Santa for "Barbie's" this year.  Several weeks before Christmas our church had its annual Christmas play put on by the youth of the church.  After the play, The Man With The Bag always drops by for a visit.  The kids get to sit on his lap, make last minute corrections to their lists, and receive a goody bag filled with all manner of treats.  Well...as soon as Claire got home and opened her goody bag...and until the moment I snapped that picture you just looked at...she bemoaned the fact that Santa did NOT bring her a Barbie.  "Santa no bring me a Barbie...why Santa no bring me a Barbie?"  One day at lunch she was sitting there at the table telling me this for roughly the 347th time.  I, being the ever hopeful Mama, and hoping that if I just say it enough times it will sink in, repeated to her that it wasn't Christmas yet...there was still time.  She looked at me, rested her little face in her hands, heaved the most dejected sigh I've ever heard coming from a three year old, and said, "I guess I'll just give up."  I had to leave the room...it was one of those "I can't stop myself from laughing and I don't want to ruin my child for life" moments.

And this little beauty?  Yep...alllll mine.  Oh I know...geez Mel...a sweeper?  Yes my friends...a sweeper.  I asked for a new sweeper.  And then?  When I found out that Hoover made a green sweeper?  And not just any green...but Mel Green?  Even the sweet Fed-Ex guy who carried it into the house for me said, "Is this your Christmas present?  From your husband?"  Hey!  I love my new sweeper!!!

Be still my foolish, foolish heart.  The other thing I asked Santa for...besides a new sweeper...was a treadmill.  I became infatuated with the treadmill at the hotel we stayed in last July.  I spent several pleasant evenings working up a sweat and racking up the miles in air conditioned comfort.  And yes...I found one...in Mel Green.

If that in and of itself isn't enough to make me giddy...it has a docking station for my MP3 player...my green MP3 player.(Yeah...that's a 3DD tune I was listening to when I snapped the picture.)I was on that sucker the first night it was set up.  I had been spending an hour each night after dinner exercising and exorcising my demons.  Mid-January I just started feeling...not well.  By the end of the month I barely had enough energy in the evenings to make dinner, let alone spend time with my beloved treadmill.  FINALLY last week I started taking baby steps back to my basement nirvana.  I did three nights of abbreviated thirty minute sessions...until Friday night when my body just gave up.  Whatever it was that had been making me not well, hit with a vengeance.  I've been taking it easy this week...yes...even for Mel.  I do feel well enough to give it a try tonight.  Hey, I've even downloaded some new tunes for the occasion!  No, it isn't going to replace my walks, but it is helping me keep my sanity until the weather breaks!

And this?  This was my gift from Hope!  I can't tell you how many compliments I have received on this necklace.  Someone comments on it every single time I wear it.  A LOT of my newer shirts have wings on them.  She, being the ever observant and highly intelligent genius she is, has taken note of this.  When I opened it the first thing I thought of was Aerosmith.  As I was trying it on Hope commented, "Mama, I think it kind of looks like Steve Perry!"  Well...there you go...my two Steve's all wrapped up into one awesome necklace.  Does my kid know me or what?

Until next time y'all...be blessed!