Whew!

Wow, I finally have a chance to breathe a bit now that the Christmas rush is over!

So... I got the last shipment of presents on Christmas eve about 2 in the afternoon. UPS ran just under the wire. I guess that is what I get for procrastinating so much.

Both Christmas & Christmas Eve went beautifully. It was wonderful being able to spend time with both sides of the family. We don't get together nearly enough.

Christmas eve is for mom's side of the family. We went to my aunt's house. It's a tradition that the adults (those 16 and over) have a round robin (like a Yankee swap). We all bring a gift, we then get a number and go around the room. The person who draws #1 is the first to select a present. One the round begins the person who goes after you may steal your gift if they like it & you get to select again, if you get your present 3 times its yours to keep. I was lucky enough to grab the 2 movies (the last 2 batman pics).

On Christmas we meet on my Dad's side of the family. This year we had christmas at my grandparents. Like Christmas eve we don't buy everyone presents. On this side of the family we draw names at Thanksgiving & play secret santa. I was Santa for my step mom & got her a beautiful wine colored pashmina and silk wrap/scarf. I got a gift certificate for a local spa/nail salon for a pedicure! Yay I can't wait to get over there!

Presents were fun this year. Mom got me some beautiful tops for work/play & some really fun stocking stuffers. I finally get to try Yoga Toes (funky but they make your feet feel good!) I also got a nourishing skin care kit from Suki. Suki is a skin care company whose products are organic & 100% natural. They are fairly local- out of Northhampton Mass. I had tried a small portion of their products earlier this year and loved them. Now I get to really play! Dad & Patty got me my Ipod!! I finally have a Nano. I had an Ipod Shuffle, but was itching to upgrade to the next size. I also got a small gc for Target that proptly went to an Itunes card which is now gone! I want to get a cover/sleeve/case for the ipod. I am afraid I am going to scratch it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday & hope that you spent some quality time with your family. We all lead such hectic lives and time speeds by like a blink of an eye; that we should make time to spend with our loved ones especially aunts/uncles/grandparents, or those who we only see infrequently. Someone told me this wonderful philosophy: "You only go around once, you have to make every day count"