Practice, Practice, Practice!

I know it is necessary, but this time of year it tires me out! We are heading into all the programs we are in finishing up for the year. Both kids are playing for lessons and carols in church the 9th. It is one of my favorite services. They had a practice already and one coming up in just a few hours :) Which reminds me I should be in bed! After that practice older son goes to work and younger son goes to practice at our fine arts group for band, choir, and tone chimes. We just had drama practice this afternoon from 1:30 until 5:00. Then the next two weeks it is more of the same. The play is on 13th and the band/choir/tone chimes/ orchestra is on the 17th. Younger son was suppose to walk in a parade with the Boy Scouts tomorrow, but practice was changed and now the parade is out. Actually it turned out well because tomorrow we are expecting rain and snow most of the day.

We drive about 35 minutes to the place we have fine arts, so the problem I always encounter is what to do with my time if I don't want to drive home. Today I did a little Christmas shopping so that was nice to get out of the way. Tomorrow I am just bringing magazines. Remind me again why I told younger son drivers ed is out until after next Spring? :)

On an other note, I have all my Christmas cards ready to go out in the morning. I held them until December 1st just so they weren't stamped in November. I have 4 packages going out too. I like to get those in the mail early because you never know when those will get there.

Our families "not so Christmas Eve party" on the 23rd is back here again. We are looking forward to having the family here. Anyone out there enjoy housework? I have plenty if you are looking for something to do :) I can throw in the laundry too!

Except for stocking stuffers, I believe I ordered my last Christmas gift on line tonight. I won't mention what it is just in case either son happens to read this. There are a couple of movies coming out still before Christmas I will pick up, but then I am done! I enjoy the wrapping part. I found the coolest set of gift tags at Target the day after thanksgiving. They are in a cute box, 75 tags for $7.99. Very unique I have enjoyed picking out ones to use.

That's about it. It is 2:30 here and we are on our way out the door at 8:30. I am going to swing past the post office and then after practice at church do some grocery shopping before the next rehearsal. I am planning a nice dinner tomorrow. Older son usually can't eat with us any more when I get around to making a dinner because he is usually at work at that time, so since he will be home in time tomorrow I thought I would make some ribs. Maybe some garlic toast to go with it.

The boys and I were so excited this week. We have the North Pole village from Department 56. We haven't added any pieces for awhile, we were just out of room and it does get expensive. Well this year we put the village under the tree. It looks nice and gives it some room to spread out. Younger son just happened to be looking on line and one of the new houses this year was a Mickey Mouse Watch Factory. Since we went to Disney this year, it just fit right in :) So we added a new house this year to the village. I am going to try and link a picture here http://www.christmasdove.com/Collectibles/atypica.exe/WService=dove/sf/dove/product.p?A=1&B=dove&C=1&D=17&D2=title1.gif&F=396&G=7802&member=0
I'll check and see if that worked. Both boys talk about what type of village they want for their families when they move out. Younger son wants them all! He is planning on a big enough house with enough rooms to put up a different style of village in different rooms. He already has dibs on this one too.

That's about it from here. Sunday I am going to try and get some pictures with the kids and Milo by the tree. Milo has a Santa suit, but I think he has outgrown it. He will be very happy if it doesn't fit :)

Have a great weekend!

p.s. The link does work for the Mickey House if you copy and paste.