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Monday was lunch and shopping at Costco (what a zoo!) and my youngest brother and his family arrived from New York.
Tuesday was a bunch of last minute shopping and wrapping gifts and me complaining because the gift bags I had were either too big or too small for the gifts. But it all got done. Oldest brother and his wife arrived from Denver.
Wednesday was more last minute food shopping and a quick trip to the library. In case anyone is wondering, I got J. D. Robb's Kindred in Death and Ice, a YA by Sarah Beth Durst.
Middle brother and his family got here from Las Vegas and we all met at Auntie Fran's for a casual pizza dinner. At this point there were 22 of us with two more, my nephew and his wife due to arrive from Chicago on Christmas Eve. As you can see we're spread out all over the country!
Christmas Eve day, I braved Target and Kohls for the very last of my last minute shopping. LOL The lines weren't too bad and I made it home by noon. Finished wrapping and we watched a bunch of Christmas shows and got ready for the excitement of the big day. And I also made some sugar cookies which expanded into the attack of the giant sugar cookies. They were still delicious!
Christmas Day we hung out in our jammies and opened presents and were very thankful dh got the day off. He's been working 10 hour days plus Saturdays and Sundays since the week after Thanksgiving. He wants to get a flat screen TV and I keep telling him that TV is getting bigger and bigger the more overtime he works. Now he just needs to get time off to shop for it. LOL
Everyone, all four of my siblings and their families except for my sister's husband, were at my mom's for Christmas dinner. She was thrilled and so happy to have all of us here. It was crazy and crowded but a wonderful time was had by all!
*the boys opening their gifts*
I thought I took more pictures but only a few were actually goods ones. I should be getting some from other family members soon.
Did anyone brave the after Christmas sales yesterday? I decided to stay home and relax with the kids. I haven't had time to read as much I would have liked but I finally started reading a fantasy after what seems to be a dry spell of UF/PNR. So far so good. :) I will be heading to Borders soon, Robyn Carr, Lara Adrian and Sarah Mayberry all have new releases coming out this week!
*the boys opening their gifts*
I thought I took more pictures but only a few were actually goods ones. I should be getting some from other family members soon.
Did anyone brave the after Christmas sales yesterday? I decided to stay home and relax with the kids. I haven't had time to read as much I would have liked but I finally started reading a fantasy after what seems to be a dry spell of UF/PNR. So far so good. :) I will be heading to Borders soon, Robyn Carr, Lara Adrian and Sarah Mayberry all have new releases coming out this week!
Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday.
Sounds like such fun, Leslie! All that family! I had a similar weekend.. no time to breath, almost!:)
ReplyDeleteOf course, I did get to the bookstore the day after Christmas with my trusty Gift Certs... I got the latest Mayberry, which was out already and I finished reading it too, lol! I got a few more books too. :) Naked in Death by J.D. Robb... (I rec'd the other 5 in the series from my book sharing buddy), A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh *g* & some books in Spanish I want to read. :)
I'm very up for that Lara Adrian! I understand Donna at Fantasy Dreamer found it last week at Wal Mart!
ReplyDeleteHils ~ So you're just starting the In Death series? It's one of my favorites - definitely top 5. And I need to get Mayberry's newest. Hope to get to Borders tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteCJ ~ I'm a little afraid of Walmart this time of year. LOL I've order the Adrian from Book Depository - it's half price. :)
Leslie, it sounds like you had such an amazing Christmas... a bit of a whirlwind, but very lovely. I think it's so wonderful that your family travels so far to be together for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read much in the last week or so either. I got about 80 pages into Wild Heart by Lori Brighton and I'm enjoying it very much, but decided to hold off to read it in January for one of the too many challenges I joined for 2010! LOL! Instead I picked up Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich... the third Stephanie Plum novel. It'll probably be my last read of 2009.
Shades of Midnight is on my list of books to buy this week, too! Maybe I'll treat myself to a trip to Borders tomorrow... I think I've got a $5 coupon somewhere and a few dollars left on a gift card. Score! ;)
Enjoy the holiday week with your family.
Christine ~ I’m fairly quiet and a bit shy but most of my family is very loud and outgoing so it was definitely a different atmosphere than I’m use to. Whirlwind describes it perfectly!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear you’re enjoying Wild Heart, I’ve got that on the tbr pile. And if you’re a Borders rewards member you should have gotten an email with a bonus $5 Borders bucks. I’m going to use mine for Sarah Mayberry’s newest. Shades of Midnight should arrive in the mail next week. :)
I need to get organized and start thinking about next years challenges. :)
Yes! The $5 coupon I'm thinking of is the Borders Bonus Bucks! I'm planning on going to Borders in just a few minutes actually.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting Shades of Midnight by Lara Adrian but am hoping that Proof of Seduction by Courtney Milan is there... and maybe even Stolen Seduction by Elisabeth Naughton. I'm probably pushing my luck...
I need to get organized with my challenges too. Make some lists, make some posts... I joined quite a few for 2010. Which is funny since I failed very badly at the four I joined for 2009. LOL!
Wow, talk about a family gathering!! LOL :) Do they come every year? and yes, I bet your mom was very happy to have everyone!! :D
ReplyDeleteGreat pics of the boys :D They look happy :)
Oh, by the way, how big is the TV your husband is going to buy? :P
ReplyDeleteChristine ~ Hope you had good luck at Borders. I’ve been reading some really positive reviews for Milan’s book. I’ve got Naughton’s first two books on the tbr pile because of Kristie, just need to read them. :D
ReplyDeleteSo far the all the challenges I plan to join will help me reduce the tbr pile so technically I don’t have to buy any new books. Not that that will stop me. :)
nath ~ the last time was three years ago and my sister didn’t make it that year. Before that it’s been at least 15 years since we were all together.
Thanks – the boys were thrilled with their video games and even happy with the books I got them. :D
The TV keeps growing. LOL The ones we have are 27 inches so I thought a 42 or 46 inch would be good. That’s a big different right? But he says “We should get as big as we can.” He’s looking at 55 inches! I’ll have to rearrange the furniture but he's been working so hard and everyone will get to enjoy it. The kids (big and little)will love playing their Wii games on it!
I did well with my book shopping!! I picked up the three new releases I wanted that I mentioned in my last post, plus I saw Crash Into Me by Jill Sorenson so I grabbed it. I have been wanting to read that for probably close to a year now, so I was excited to see it on the shelf.
ReplyDeleteIf I may add my two cents regarding the television... I have to agree with your husband and say go as big as you can!! We have a huge screen (150") because we have a HD home theater type projector. It was expensive, but not as much as you might think. Probably very comparable to the amount you'd pay for a 50" HD flat screen. The downside to the projector is that you need to have the room dark for the best picture, so during the day, we have to pull dark drapes over the windows. But we don't watch much tv during the day so it's not that big of an issue for us. Anyway, I hope you get something BIG! You'll love it.
Christine ~ Yes! You got all three books – awesome! I’ve got Crash Into Me on the tbr pile. I do remember reading a bunch of really good reviews for it when it came out – I think that was last summer maybe? I finally made it to Borders and use the Bonus Bucks to get Sarah Mayberry’s newest at $4.99 so it was free!
ReplyDeleteThe TV – I have a feeling we’ll get the 55 inch. LOL dh is suppose to be off all weekend so I’m thinking a trip to Best Buy and Sam’s will be in the schedule. The fact that we’ll all enjoy it and if it goes on the wall I think it will, I’ll be able to see it from the kitchen. :)
Wow, that's big :D
ReplyDeleteMy dad keeps talking about buying a bigger TV, but yeah, that means a lot of rearrangement to make. Personally, I don't think we have enough space in the living room.