Tis the Season

It's been a fun weekend. It started off with my company Holiday Party at a local hotel. It's a huge bash with over 2000 people. Last year, M and I ended up at a table with people we didn't know and it wasn't much fun. So, this year M and I hosted a pre-party in our hotel room -- that way, we could all go down stairs together and sit together. Our preparty was a hit, with about 20 people crammed into the room, drinking wine and eating the appetizers that we brought. It worked like a charm too. We were at a table with friends that M knows too and gets along with well. We had tasty wine. The food wasn't that great, but it's hard to serve that many people. After dinner, there were lots of things going on in the different ballrooms -- kareoke, casino room, two rooms with DJs and dancing, and a comedian. We spent most of the time in the casino room, gambling with chips that they gave us when we walked in the room. Just after midnight, M and I went to our room and I had a nice bath in the huge jacuzzi tub. We called for a wake-up call for 6:00, crashed into bed, and woke up way too soon to get home and get the boys to hockey practice. But it was totally worth it!

R and T stayed at home with our new favorite babysitter -- a good friend of Miss Ellie. We had sooo much fun at the party.

Here we are all dolled up

Yesterday while M was hunting (came up empty again) R went to a birthday party and T and I worked in my craft room. I made Christmas cards while T did a craft that he'll give to R for Christmas.

We also went and Santa Clause 3 today. But before we did that, we needed to rent and watch Santa Clause, and Santa Clause 2. So we did that yesterday and this morning. Then, we surprised the boys by taking them to the newly released Santa Clause 3. It was a pretty funny flick. After that, we took the boys to get measured for their tuxes for the big wedding after Christmas. This afternoon, we had a photo session for the pics that will go in our Christmas cards. Here are the out-takes...

Naughty or Nice

T and I were watching R's hockey practice today and I asked him about Santa Clause's list:

Me: T, which list are you on...naughty?... or nice?
T: Hmmmm. I think both...kind of medium, you know what I mean?
Me: I think you're a very good boy. You're probably on the nice list.
T: I'm still thinking the medium list, mom.
Me: Which list am I on?
T: You're on the I-Love-You list!

Winter is Here

We've had interesting weather lately. In early October, it snowed 6 inches -- EARLY OCTOBER, as in BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY -- it snowed. Crazy! That was all the talk in these parts, for a couple of weeks. Even now, in early December, you might catch someone saying, "remember that October snow storm? It was a doozy." So, after that early snow, we had beautiful weather in October and November -- it was in the 60's for a lot of it. Usually it's in the 40's or so in November. So, two weeks ago, M put up the Christmas lights. I think he might have even been wearing shorts 'cause it was in the low 60's. (By the way, don't worry. We aren't THOSE people who have lights on all year or even frightenly early in the season. The way you do it around here is put the lights up before it freezes so that it isn't a life-threatening experience. But you don't turn them on until after Thanksgiving. I remember that just a few days after we moved in two years ago October 20th, M was getting antsy about putting up Christmas lights. I just could not understand it being from California and all when you don't have to worry about ice and stuff.)

Anyway, last weekend it was in the 60's and today it was 32 degrees. December came in like a lion with an amazing ice storm. Except for the fierce danger and all, I really love ice storms because everything, I mean everything is so beautiful! The whole neighborhood turns into a fairytale. Every single tree is covered in ice, which makes them look magical. They are all coated in a beautiful, shiny, ice covering that shines and twinkles in the snow. It took my breath away to look at the woods in our backyard. (Unfortunately, M had the camera today and I couldn't take a picture. Hopefully we'll have another ice storm so I can share the wonder with you.) The danger of the ice storm is the downed power lines and fallen trees, but as long as nobody gets hurt and folks aren't out of electricity for too long, I totally think it's worth it!) Because of the bad weather, the boys got a Snow Day yesterday. R was jumping up and down with joy and T was bummed because he loves Kindergarten. He soon got over his disappointment when he learned that R was going to be home to play with them. They helped M bring all of the Christmas decorations up from the basement, so I put most of them out today. I love how the house looks with Christmas up!

Today was a good day in the Smith household. T had his first hockey game -- usually he just has drills and practices. Although he claims to not like hockey, he had a huge smile on his face the whole time he played. He even got a goal! R had a good hockey practice too, ending it with a red, sweaty face, smiling as always. After hockey, I came home with T and made three gallons of hot cocoa for M to take to an outdoors Cub Scout outing. It was at the local Boy Scout camp and the older scouts ran the activities of the day -- archery, bb gun target shooting, tomahawk throwing (do you see a weapon theme here for some reason??) crafts and games. They had a blast! R even earned his bb gun badge because he was such a good shot -- he needed to get 35 points to get the badge and he got 37. Way to go R!

I leave tomorrow for a business trip to LA. I have an 8:30 AM meeting there on Monday, so I have to travel on Sunday. I hate traveling on the weekend, but the bonus of this trip is that I get to visit my sister! She's going to meet me at my hotel and we'll have some time together, which will be great.

Here is a picture of R learning how to throw the Tomahawk.

Remember when T did the Aboriginal Art last month? Here is his masterpiece.