Christmas and Beyond

Christmas day was great! The kids slept in until almost 8:30 and then we opened all the gifts from Santa! I am very thankful that we are in a position to provide nice things for our family without worry. We had a great dinner too! A nice ham, which I slow cooked on a low temp a ll day to make it moist and not dry. It was really nice!
Ryan has taken a weeks vacation from work and I have been trying to get the house more organized and in order. I worked on the basement and my bedroom yesterday. I have to work on them some more today and get it organized in a way that if I don't finish, it won't be a mess when I come back to it at a later time. We have a bunch of running around today to do as well. I have to leave here shortly and go to Walmart to pick up some medicine, get to Giant and get baby formula for Gabe and then hit the dry cleaners and pick up a suit for Ryan to wear later today for a job interview. Then I have to come home and gather everyone up and drive up to Ryans work and get his pay check, hit the bank and then home so he can get ready for his interview.
He has an interview today for another retail store chain. It is for a position higher than he has right now and hopefully they hire him and the pay is better than he makes now. Don't get me wrong, his pay now is great. but its always nice to have more money! Especially since we really need a new van and the money to fix the one we have. More money would free up that money we would need.
I have also been busy hitting all the after Christmas sales! Somehow in all our moves, we lost all our Christmas items. I bought what I needed for this year, but went to all the 50% off sales after Christmas and stocked up on more ornaments, garland, lights and yard decorations. All I need to get for next year is a new tree skirt and maybe a few more yard items. The front yard is small so we may only need 1 or 2 things. I was also able to get a beautiful Christmas serving tray and also a 101 piece cookie cutter set for only $4.99! What a great deal!
We've also been continuing the work on the house. Ryan has been working on stripping the paint from the fire place. And I bought a light for the upstairs hallway. I'll post a picture below so you can see it. It's just beautiful!
I think other than all those things, life has been normal as always. We're just looking forward to the new year and all the new things it will bring!

It's Christmas Eve!

Here we are, Christmas eve. The night when it all happens! The kids received email videos from Santa and we've been tracking him on NORAD and clicking on all the places he's visited already. Like Fuji, Japan, Auckland, New Zealand, The International Space Station, etc....  Ryan is working today, so I've been home cleaning the house up for our company tonight. I still have some last minute shopping left to do. I know exactly what I need to get and where I need to go. I hope to have it all done in 1 hour. Luckily, the stores are less than 5 mins. from my house and all in the same shopping center! I hope I find what I need so I don;t need to make an unexpected trips anywhere else.
Tomorrow will be awesome! I have my camera all charged and ready for Christmas morning! It'll be nice to have the kids help bake a birthday cake for Jesus tomorrow. It puts the day into perspective for us all. This holiday is a very good one! We have had no problem providing for our family, but we were also blessed to be able to help provide for another family as well.
We adopted a family for Christmas. They have 2 children - a 2 yr old girl and a 10 month old boy.   I mailed out the box priority mail 6 days ago and was so scared they wouldn't get it in time! I got an email this morning from the mom saying she got the box this morning and wrapped all the gifts already! I am so glad we were able to help make another families Christmas a little brighter!
Merry Christmas everyone!