Almost Christmas!

So amidst all the craziness of this house... there's also a very special holiday approaching that I'm *finally* finished shopping for! LOL I did more than I said I would... I always do that... I'd been collecting things for Lizzy's stocking for quite awhile now - and when I finally sat down to see if I needed anything else to top it off, I realized - I could have filled up 3 stockings for her. LOL I have a huge bag of stocking stuffers left over. Since we're refinishing her new desk, I bought her lots of art things - crayons, washable markers, chalk, colored pencils, construction paper, coloring books, washable paints, etc. And a couple organizers to keep it all neat in her desk! I'm so excited to see her sitting there making art. LOL So cute! Aside from that I filled Jay and Lizzy's stockings to the top - with no room left for so much as a candy cane. I just love stockings! :D My favorite part of the gift giving process... fun to shop for, fun to stuff, and fun to open! LOL

On top of all that, I picked up the last of my holiday baking/cooking things this morning. I'm making a cream cheese breakfast casserole on Christmas Eve so all I have to do is pop it in the oven on Christmas morning... suuuuper yummy! And then, since we're having dinner at my MIL's on Christmas day instead of my mama's... I figured I'd bring a few of my favorite Christmas Dinner dishes along so it still felt like home for me too. So I'm making a sweet creamed corn casserole and Waldorf Salad. *lickin my lips already* Yay! I do need to go pick up some seedless red grapes from Publix - they were all out at Walmart this morning. And boy was that place crazy - stupid me for waiting until the Saturday before Christmas to finish up my shoppng - but oh well... they had tons of people stocking shelves, and 3x's that many people loading up their carts just as fast - there were several things I got nearly the last item of, off the shelf. It was just nuts! The line wasn't too long - fortunately they had almost every aisle open instead of their usual 3. So I was only 2 back and made it through the line in under 20 minutes.

Last night was our annual Oyster Roast. It was super fun. Grandma and Grandaddy Clemmons got Liz, Jay and I EACH a $25 gift card to Walmart... so my $100 shopping list this morning only cost me $25. :D Gotta love that! I stocked up on milk and OJ too so we won't have to go back until after Christmas. Now we can focus more on getting the bathrooms and kitchen finished so we can move in next weekend! I can't even begin to believe we're moving already... I've yet to pack almost anything. I guess it'll be one car/truck load after another until the house is empty.

Anyway, back to the Oyster Roast - G&G Clemmons celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, so we all sang to them and smiled as Grandaddy showed an uncommon kindess to grandma all night. (Usually he's an old codger to his saintly wife.) But last night was a special treat for all of us. Aunt Marianne made it a Hawaiian Christmas (having just got back from Hawaii) so we played a big gift exchange game where everyone went home with something from Hawaii - Lizzy ended up with a Hula Rag doll, I ended up with a Hawaiian calander and a set of oven mits, dish towels etc with sea turtles on them, and Jay found himself with two necklaces - one of a turtle and the other a fish hook made from the bone of some exotic animal whose name escapes me at the moment. All in all it was good fun for everyone. We all came home stuffed to the brim (though I didn't have a single oyster *sad*) I managed to fill up on grapes, veggies, summer sausage, and punch. LOL Jay's dad was a weirdo last night... telling me how "beautiful you are when you're pregnant." *shivers* He creeps me out. Bryan seemed to be doing alright considering Ashley's out of the picture now. He has his bad days but seems to be managing - that stupid girl keeps screwing with the family which is really starting to tick me off - but I'm trying to stay out of it all as much as I can. We spent way too much on Bryan this year - but I figure since he just came out of a breakup, we'll help make up for what he'll be missing on Christmas morning. :)

All in all I found some huge deals this week... I got my whole family shopped for and finished up and managed to stay under budget! So fun! I'll post the list just so I have this to look back on - for those who read my blogs - skip ahead as this will be boring. LOL

Daddy~ Lizzy picked out some tools from Lowes... actually, she grabbed this big gift set right off the shelf and said "Pawpaw!!!!" very loudly. LOL I took that as a sign, they were in our budget and it's a nice set so that's what we got pawpaw.
Mama~ I found a really pretty sweater the day after Thanksgiving for her, then topped it off with some bath salts and lip balm.
Beth~ Super cute maternity shirt, bath salts and lip balm (different scent from mama's.)
Jamie~ Hess gas card. He's in college.... mom said he could really use it. LOL
Caleb~ Black and Grey striped thermal knit shirt with a white belt with big X's on it. Hard to explain but it looked like him.
Linda~ A Tempurpedic pillow (she asked for this) and a Tupperware Pot that you use in the mircrowave to make cakes or just store things in... I went to a tupperware party and got one for myself and one for her. LOL She's like me, I know she'll get a kick out of making a cake in the microwave in 8 minutes. LOL
Bryan~ A cologne gift set. (The boys love their cologne) A Button up Shirt and a Pullover to match it.
Chris~ A cologne gift set. (Different set than Bryan) A book on Architecture and a book on Wood Working. (His career, and his hobby)
Grandma and Grandaddy C~ Dinner at their Cary Hilliards (their favorite restaurant)

And then everything else for my family we've already given out at previous parties...

Jay and Lizzy are going to have great Christmas's this year. There's lots of great things under the tree for both of them and I have a feeling my hubby will spoil me as well... he always does - even though we said to take it easy on Christmas... I know him well. LOL

Lizzy's stocking included: bubble bath, bath markers, a princess mirror and chapstick set, new sippy cups, toothbrush, toothpaste, flash cards (for colors and numbers) crayons, markers, chalk, candy necklace, candycane filled with smarties (her favorite) and I can't remember what else - but there's more stuffed in there. LOL

Jay's stocking includes: 3 pairs of socks for his birk slides, some boxers, a new razor, candy, 3 kinds of cologne, toothbrush, and I can't remember what else in his either. LOL

Anywho this is mostly it... It's been fun shopping for people I love. And I since I managed to get so many amazing deals on things, we still have enough left to work on the house this weekend. I'm headed to Lowes in a few minutes to pick up some high gloss white paint to finish painting Lizzy's new desk, and also the kitchen cabinets need a fresh coat. Jay's going to try to get all the sub floors laid in the bathrooms today. We found a KILLER deal on Craigslist for flooring - a lady in downtown charleston had just refinished her dining room with wide plank natural pine flooring and had 100 sq. feet left over... she was selling all 100 sq. feet for $25. Yep - it's $7 a square foot at Lowes. So this was a HUGE Deal. Granted now we have to do more work than just laying a new floor, as they have to be sanded and stained and then sealed since it's in bathrooms - but they'll be gorgeous when they're finished. And Jay was thrilled to get them - so that's what we'll be working on tomorrow hopefully, getting them laid and sanded and maybe the first coat of stain. We'll see. Jay woke up with a sinus cold this morning... poor guy feels miserable, but he took some cold meds and wants to go work on the house rather than lay around all day... so we may not get a lot done since he's kinda out of it - but that's okay... we've been working our tails off, we'll just do the best we can and move in whenever it all get's finished. :) No worries.

I can't believe Christmas is almost here! OH OH OH!!! AND We got our new insurance which covers EVERYTHING. So Madeline is officially 100% covered for all the hospital bills... which means we can go to MUSC after all! I really wanted too, but it's more expensive than other hospitals in the area so unless the insurance came through we weren't going to go that route... so that's very exciting. I can't wait to take the "tour" sometime after the new year. It'll be really neat getting to deliver in this amazing hospital!

So if anyone other than myself managed to read through this whole thing, Thanks! and Merry Christmas to you!