Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wow, where does time go?  It seems like it was only last week that I was shopping for Christmas presents.  And now we will be welcoming 2013 in a few days.

Despite the holiday craziness, coupled with the traveling that we were doing, I managed to make Christmas cards to give to family members, wrap my family's presents, give it to them, attend the family Christmas Eve dinner at my uncle's house, host a Christmas Eve dinner two hours later at our house, and watch my son open his presents on Christmas morning, and travel.  Whew.  Just thinking about it makes me exhausted!

I will post the Christmas card I made for family members tomorrow.  I had forgotten my camera at  home, so I was not able to snap a quick photo.

For now, just some interesting thoughts on gift-giving:
1.  I searched all over for a Discovery Farm cloth book for my son, and finally found it online.  I ordered it and it was delivered just in time for the holidays.  It was going to be one of his presents, in addition to an Octo-tune, and three other books.  In addition to that, he also received plenty of gifts from family and friends.  His Dad and I loved all the gifts.  He was more interested in the wrapping paper.

2.  My niece is also my husband's goddaughter, and because we were so busy with the hustle and bustle of the holidays, ended up buying her present at the last minute.  On the way to the store, I was anxiously praying that there will be something left to buy that she will like (many years ago, I learned the hard way that shopping on Christmas Eve leaves you with very slim pickings).  I finally decided on a Minnie Mouse dress-up toy and an AquaDoodle (can  you believe I almost typed Aqua Painter?  Wink, wink).  I was in and out of the store in 20 minutes flat (sooner if the line had not been that long), and she squealed with delight as soon as she opened her presents.  It looks like I hit the jackpot on that one.

Lessons learned over the holidays:
1.  To take joy in the simple things, like my son.
2.  Sometimes, you can get lucky, even at the last minute, like I did with my niece's presents.
3.  The best presents we can give to each other are the intangible ones, like time, love, and kindness.

Thanks everyone, for looking, and I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed holidays!