My most unusual Christmas ever!

I hope all of you had a wonderful and fantastic Christmas holiday!

I will have to say my Christmas week was my unusual one yet!

As usual, I waited until the last minute to do just about everything.  I worked for days-on-end to make sure I finished all the ornaments for my co-workers and then planned on spending the week of Christmas finishing up my decorating, buying a few last minute gifts, wrapping all the presents, baking with the kids, making treats for the family, and just spending a lot of quality time with my family and friends.

All it took was a case of the flu and strep throat to bring all of my plans to a SCREECHING HALT!

I spent all day on Wednesday and Thursday in bed, barely able to hold my head up.  I was so worried about everything that wasn't being done.  Fortunately, my hubby stepped up to the plate, and finished all my last minute shopping for me, so at least I didn't have to worry about that anymore.

Friday morning, I made myself get out of bed, shower, get dressed and fix my hair.  It took just about all the energy I had for the moment, but I was determined to do something with my kids on Christmas Eve.  I didn't want my kids to remember this Christmas as the one where mama stayed in bed all week.

I managed to get all of my craft supplies put up and actually have a clean dining room. I didn't get finished with the decorating in there, but I did already have a few things up.

Jameson painted this in art class.

  

Then it was time to let the fun begin!

The kids and I decided to bake Christmas cookies!

Since I was sick, I cheated and used store-bought dough, but we did roll it out and use cookie cutters to make gingerbread-looking men.

I let the kids have free-range when it came to using the sprinkles, which may have been a mistake....haha!

Yes, there are cookies under all that red stuff....haha

Into the oven they go!

And here is the finished result.....

Round two only went slightly better:

I definitely think I need to keep my day job.  They sure did taste* good, according to the kids.

*The flu/strep also did a number on my taste buds. As of day 5, I'm still unable to taste or smell anything.  What kind of a cruel joke is that at Christmastime?*

Anyway, after the cookies, the kids were absolutely bouncing off the walls with anticipation.  Chelsea was so excited, she literally went to bed before 7:00, just in case Santa wanted to drop by early.   We managed to get Jameson to go to bed around 8:30, but he didn't go to sleep for a while.

Once they finally went to sleep, we hurried to get the house prepared for Santa, and wrap all of the gifts.  Around midnight, after visiting with Santa for a few minutes, here is what everything looked like:

Early the next morning, the kids woke up bright and early, and decided to separate all their gifts and shake and squish every one of them before they decided to let mom and dad in on the fun.

This is Jameson's "fake passing-out" because he's so happy....

You think he's happy with his Lego's?

Dad helping Chelsea with her iPad.

This is what I saw the rest of the morning....the back of Jameson's head where he was playing with his Playstation 3, and Chelsea walking back and forth through the living room, looking at all her stuff.

While they were playing with their gifts, something happened that has never happened in the recorded history of Alabama....

IT STARTED TO SNOW!

And it snowed, and snowed, and snowed.....

ALL.DAY.LONG!

The snowflakes were HUGE, unlike anything I've ever seen!

Don't fear, that's not a live deer....it's a shooting dummy that collapsed under the weight of the "blizzard"  HAHA!

We were all so excited!

Marty and the kid's went to see Marty's family, and left me here to get some much needed rest.  I hated I missed them, but I had just about done everything I could possibly do.  I was wore slap out!

Marty said they had a great time, and played in the snow out there until they were freezing and soaking wet!

Here are some pictures of the gift-opening frenzy:

When they came home, somehow, they had picked up another passenger:

Well Taylor Lautner came for a visit!  Isn't that sweet of him?  Actually, Mr. Lautner was a gift from my niece Shelby.  He's now living in Chelsea's room and scares the mess out of me every time I walk by.

Since the snow was so pretty, and because I missed them playing in the snow out at their grandmother's house, I asked them to go out on the porch and let me get a couple of pictures to remember this unheard-of Christmas Day snow.

You would have thought I had asked them to go out and roll in the snow naked or something.

Needless to say, these are the best pictures I got:

**sigh**

It's better than nothing, I guess.

So, in the grand scheme of things, I would say it was a great Christmas.  The kids had a fantastic time and said it was the best Christmas ever.

And that's all that really matters, right?