And the clean up continues

Christmas is finally over! *sigh of relief* It continues to amaze me how much build up and planning goes into one day. It didn't have it's usual anti-climactic ending this time, though. Plus, we had many days of celebration to spread it all out. Growing up, it was a marathon of houses to visit, food to eat, presents opened, sometimes adding up to exhaustion rather than a feeling of celebration after visiting 4 or 5 houses...or more sometimes...
This year, it was spread out, rather than happening all in one day, and with so much of my family living on in the four corners of the globe, we didn't have to go as many places. If my family moves back to the area, we will be the real life version of the movie 4 Christmases only it will be like 6...
We started on the Tuesday before with Corey's dad. A 'little' rain didn't slow us down. Then, it was our turn to have Christmas Eve with Riley, which also means we had Christmas morning(it's complicated, for now), which we were very excited about, after last years bad chinese food Riley and a barely there Christmas. We had brunch at a friend's house and enjoyed the sunny, warm morning that only a Southern California Christmas can offer. Christmas Eve night with Corey's Mom was fun and it was my first time being able to join(I worked last year). Cooper was oblivious to the whole thing. I think he got a little restless being held the whole time, since his new mobility on the floor gives him chance to explore. Christmas morning didn't come as early as Christmas Eve did. 6 am Christmas Eve, Riley had woken up, saying,'Can we open presents?' with all the excitement that comes on a regular Christmas morning. So, Christmas morning, I actually thought I would have to wake her up, because I hadn't slept well myself in anticipation of our family Christmas morning.
Riley insisted on going last each round of present opening and turn taking. She was almost as excited to see us get our presents as she was to open her own, it was so very sweet. Again, Cooper was more interested in the ribbons, than what was inside the packages.
Then, we ate breakfast, relaxed, and inspected the gifts we'd given. It was an amazing morning. I didn't want to let her go at noon.
The day continued without the usual rush, and we made the rounds to two more family homes, enjoying each. It was a very merry Christmas.
Now, I almost have all the ribbons,boxes and bags put away for re-use on the next holiday, and the ornaments and decorations are next. My birthday is tomorrow, and we're hosting a birthday party for Kelly(who's birthday is the 31st) and Spencer(who shares my exact birthday), along with myself, I guess. It will be nice to have all the holiday decorations put away, so we can concentrate on the new celebration.

Merry Christmas!

I'd never written a Christmas letter before, but I did, and here it goes....



or at least, this is where it was supposed to go... I tried copying and pasting my letter from my Word doc, but apparently, there's some html conflict or something that completely goes over my head. Maybe if I figured that stuff out, I'd know how to customize the appearance of this blog as well...
Anyway, it's on Facebook, because at least I can still figure that out :)

Busy, Busy...

Why are the holidays the absolute busiest time of the year?  Why does everything for the whole year happen in 6 weeks at the end of the year?  I think I might start throwing unBirthday parties or random get-togethers throughout the year, just to balance it all out.
I spent the last week baking, trying to clean around my 2 children, and even rearranging furniture in an effort to present my home, and thus myself, in the best possible way.  But, come party time, didn't care if everything was in the right spot, or if there were dirty dishes on the counter.  The turn out was small, but intimate parties are my favorite.  I'm learning that I love to throw parties, decorate, and make the food, but the socializing part is a little more than I can handle.  So, if you come to one of my parties, and I spend the whole time in the kitchen, pretending to make more food, it's more than my lack of time management and definitely not personal.  It's also my social anxiety and inability to create small talk without putting my foot in my mouth.  I like to make the environment so that others can enjoy themselves, socialize and have that small talk.  If my guests have a good time, I'm happy.  I'm not really worried about myself at these things:)  So, come find me in the kitchen where I'm probably 'hiding' :)
I did get compliments on my home, my food, and I heard that people had a good time.  A successful gathering...even if I didn't get any pictures.

The first try...

So, being new to this, I'm not totally sure where to start, but I am sure that this will evolve into something more organic, that will flow easier than it does now, and I'll look back on this first one with a laugh.  I'm hoping to use this as another tool to keep my out of state and out of the country family updated on the many goings on of the Carlson family, and who knows, I might even post some of my craftiness... I like the idea of this even being cathartic, somewhat like journal writing, and without boundaries.  It's it's own creature, and with time, I'll figure out what makes it, and me, tick.