Christmas 2009

Wow, what a Christmas!  I hope you all had a great holiday, as well!  Patrick's first Christmas was filled with lots of love, food, memories, gifts, giggles, and activity - definitely one to remember.  I don't have pictures pulled from my camera yet, but promise to get those up shortly.

My parents, brother, and his dog arrived Wednesday the 23rd and my second cousin Janie came that day, as well, to spend some time with us.  We had a nice time - I hosted a little pre-Christmas party with my artichoke dip, mini burritos, mini quiches, wine, desserts, and all kinds of goodies.  It was a great way to break in my new dining room stuff - it looked so pretty all dressed up for Christmas... I was so proud!

The rest of our days were spent cooking, taking care of and playing with P, wrapping presents, watching Christmas movies, parades, talking, etc. etc. etc.  It was a nice Christmas with everyone here.  Even with Paco, Matt's doggie, who helped the Hall household reach a new level of havoc!

Some of my favorite presents this year were a Crock Pot and recipe book for it, Bissell Green Machine (steam cleaner), gorgeous cookbooks, a Oreck Hand Vac, and a bike trailer to cruise around with P.  Who would think I'd get so excited over cooking and cleaning?? LOL!

In other news, I received an allowance from my hubby to spend on the house for Christmas!!   I decided to buy bedroom furniture - Z Gallerie is having a 15% off sale right now, so I pulled the trigger on a set that I've been eyeballing.  I went a tiny bit over budget, but Sheridan let me off the hook.  Can't wait to see it in person!!!  Whatcha think?

Things are back to normal now and it's time to start thinking about putting away all the decorations, the tree, and DIETING!!  Oh good God, the dieting... I weighed myself this morning and I gained SEVEN pounds in December.  OOPS!  My pants are about to pop from being so tight right now... Operation Fatass is definitely ON.  So far, not so good - I had 2 cookies with my coffee this morning.  Gotta work on that!

Patrick is a bit ill and has been for the last few days.  He had Hand, Foot, and Mouth about 10 days ago and appears to be healed from that, but has a really runny nose and I'm afraid some of it has infected his ear (he's tugging at it), so he's at home today and I'm taking him to the doctor shortly.  Pray that we get him fixed up - he's been so miserable the last 10 days!!  :(

So now the New Year is upcoming and the next things to consider are:

1. Several visits from friends and family in the coming weeks

2. Patrick's first birthday party on 1/23

3. New Year's resolutions!!!  Specifically, getting back into the gym and shedding this holiday weight, networking more for work, and making time to see friends I haven't seen in a while.

I'll post pictures soon from Christmas!

Love, Mer

Update at 5:30 p.m.  Patrick still has Hand, Foot, and Mouth and two raging ear infections.  One more ear infection before long and we're going to have to chat about inserting tubes.   :(  Cross your fingers that my baby boy feels better soon, please!