Wonderful Weekend!

Thankfully I was able to decompress at work on Friday and when I picked the kids up on Friday, all was well! :)

I left work on Friday feeling pretty excited for two reasons: 1) we had the potential for a new client (big one!); and 2) I was up to something sneaky! :) Being sneaky, in a good way, is always very exciting.

Earlier in the week, I'd gotten an email from my sister. She was very overwhelmed with work and life in general. She's worked SO MUCH lately, weekends included, that she is just worn out. She mentioned in her email that she wasn't sure when they would get to decorate for Christmas and THAT is when I knew I had to step in. She and Shenan were scheduled to be out of town this past weekend for a side job and I called Mom to recruit her for the job and to make sure she had a key. Friday night, Sydney and I headed to the 'Burg for a short 22 hrs to play Santa's elves.

I met Mom and Tom at Longhorn for dinner. It was nearly 8pm and I was a bit nervous about Sydney, especially given the morning's event. She was wonderful. The food was way late being delivered and she was an absolute doll. It was a nice dinner and then we headed over to scope out Ashley's house. When we confirmed that no one was home, we headed inside. I needed Tom to help me bring the tree out of the attic. He brought the tree and a few big tubs down and we were ready for Saturday morning. We locked up and headed home for sleep as it was 9:45pm. Sydney certainly made up for herself this past weekend. She was extremely excited at the thought of decorating for Christmas. :)

The next morning, we got up, showered and headed over to get started. Not before we stopped at Starbucks! We got the tree up and had it positioned right where we wanted it and opened the tubs to look for ornaments, but there weren't any. The boxes had Christmas stuff, but evidently not all of it. I had to venture into the attic to see what else I could find. First, the attic is unfinished and I had to balance on the beams to get to the storage area. If you know me, you know that I am NOT graceful and I was just waiting to fall through the floor of their garage onto a Harley. That would not be a good surprise. I also do not think I ever want to go into that attic again. :) Scary! Next time I may not be so lucky.

After a few moments, I located a few giant tubs with more Christmas stuff and then I wondered how in the world I would get them down. Ashley and Shenan are STRONG STRONG and how they managed to get these enormous tubs up there is beyond me. I think one of the tubs weighed almost 200lbs. I'm not joking. So, Mom grabbed a garbage bag and I filled it up and passed it down. So it went for a very long time. :) Pretty soon, the house was decked and it was nearly 3pm. We were all hungry and we headed out for food and glue. Yep, something got broken and I had to fix it. I won't say what or by whom. :) She'll never know. Thankfully, it was something very small. Okay, I give. Sydney pulled the bear off an ornament. She didn't mean to do it. She is just rough with things. Thankfully that was the only casualty.

We hit Michael's after lunch and got stuff to make a wreath and a sign. We headed back to the house and worked furiously because I needed to get home. We cleaned everything up and put all of the empty boxes back into the attic. When we walked out my car was covered in wet snow. Uh-oh! The radio confirmed that it was just wet. So, I dropped Mom off and headed home. Sydney was passed out in the back seat. She was so tired from decorating that she didn't even budge when Mom kissed her goodbye. It was so sweet.

Yesterday, we had a fairly lazy day. We hung around the house until about noon and then headed out for a bit. The kids got haircuts, Nathan's first, and we walked around the mall for a bit. We did some chores and I spent the afternoon cooking or assembling. No serious cooking involved, unfortunately. It was complete bliss. This was one of the best weekends.

Just after 8pm, the phone rang. It was Ashley calling to say how excited and happy she was about her decorations. She sounded as if she was going to cry. I just loved it! I'm sooo happy she liked it. I went to bed last night feeling so good. This year will probably be one of the leanest Christmases we've had in years and so far, it feels more like Christmas than years past. This year, I'm actually happy about the holiday and a lot less stressed. There is nothing cooler than decorating a tree with your kid or surprising family with unexpected Christmas cheer. :) So, despite the fact my husband has called me Grinch at least three times this weekend, I know it isn't true. I'm just cautious, honey! :)

Happy Monday!