Working list of What Needs to Happen Before Dec. 24th.

Christmas photo of the boys √
Order photo cards √
Order stamps by mail √
Address and mail cards
Buy Christmas tree √
Decorate tree
Finish Shopping
Wrap gifts
Make cookies
Clean House
Sleep (yeah right!)

Thank you God for Wal-Mart! I took the Christmas photo of my sons on Wednesday and uploaded it to Wal-Mart.com that night. My cards were ready for pick-up on Saturday morning. My stamps-by-mail should come in today’s mail. Now I just need to find time to address the envelopes.

My husband has been studying for his final exam for the last two weeks. I cannot wait for him to be done. This is hopefully his last grad school class and he will have his Master’s from Johns Hopkins completed. Woohoo! He started grad school when I was pregnant with Blue Dog Pup #1 who is now 4-1/2 years old. He has aced all his classes, but this last class has been his toughest. As long as he pulls this one out, he’s done. If not he has to take two more to complete his Masters. He stumbled a bit with his mid-term but has really turned the class around and I know he’ll kick ass on his final.

I still have a fair amount of shopping to complete, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. For Christmas we will have at least my mom coming from PA and my brother will come down from Baltimore. My in-laws will make an appearance too, but they aren’t sure when they are coming.

Blue Dog Pup#1 has a Christmas show at his school tomorrow night, which we are looking forward to seeing. He’s been walking around for weeks singing “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” My brother might even make it down for the show. Blue Dog Pup #2 has a party for which I need to remember to wrap his gift exchange and buy chips.

Oh yeah and work. I have a magazine and a poster to get to the printer and I need to start designing a conference registration brochure before Christmas.

The jewelry designing and glass fusing is on hiatus until things settle down after the holidays. I still have not used gift certificates for beads that I received for my birthday back in August.

Alright, I just won some new glass for fusing on E-Bay. I’ve never actually purchased anything on E-Bay so now I have to figure out how to pay for it.

I hope your Christmas preparations are coming along. I know this is a stressful time for varying reasons for people. I hope you can all take a minute or two during the season to enjoy it at least a little. I know that even as busy as I am, I am blessed to have the pleasure of seeing Christmas through the eyes of my little boys and I can’t begin to tell you the warmth, peace and love it gives me.