I have never been sick during Christmas. Well, not that I recall — I am getting old, so I don’t know how reliable my memory is at this point! Landon was sick last weekend and the first part of this week. Then Nikki started getting sick, and she sounds like she’s on the verge of pneumonia (but won’t see the doctor..sigh). Now my throat is getting sore. It isn’t to the point where it feels like razors, but I know it’s coming. I don’t have a fever (yet), but I started coughing a little about half an hour ago. This stinks! I’m going to take something for it before I call it a night. With any luck I’ll be able to avoid getting too terribly sick like everyone else.

Earlier today I decided to go ahead and get my baking out of the way. I made cupcakes for my mom’s party tomorrow, some for Nikki’s co-workers at the bank and some for Kim’s (dad’s girlfriend) family party. I decided to do Devil’s Food Cake & Strawberry mini-cupcakes (though I’ve only take photos of the Devil’s Food Cake so far). Don’t they look yummy? Trust me… they are!!

Now all that’s left is to wrap the last 2 gifts. One for my brother in law, which will actually be from Tyler, Landon & Trent. The other is for Tammy, my mom’s friend & roommate. I was hoping I wouldn’t have anything left to wrap after tonight, so I’m thinking I may even just put their gifts inside of gift bags instead. I think I’m out of ribbon, and I would prefer to have ribbon on a wrapped gift — yes, I’m that particular about it.

I’m supposed to stay the night with Nikki tomorrow night, Christmas Eve. At this point, I’m thinking I may just stay with my mom since she’ll be by herself Christmas day. Nikki is just so sick and I really don’t want to get whatever she has.. if I don’t already have it. As much as I really want to be there when the boys open all of their gifts, I’d rather not get that mess. Guess I’ll figure that out tomorrow.

Speaking of my mom though; she called me tonight and asked if I took one of the gifts, from her to me. I told her no, of course. Well it turns out it’s the handbag (one of two from her that I know I’m getting lol) I was looking forward to having the most. I really hope she finds it. She said she’d already unwrapped all of the other gifts under her tree (like 50 of them) and it wasn’t there, but she remembers wrapping it and putting it under there. I don’t remember her giving me anything but gifts to the boys, so what I’m thinking is she’s put the wrong labels on something.. I hope. :/

I have some laundry to attend to now, and I guess I should go on and take something for my throat..

Christmas is almost here. Only a couple of days left to finish up what little bit of shopping I have left to do and finish all of the baking I have left to do. Speaking of which, I did a little baking tonight — baking two different kinds of shortbread cookies. I’m not at all fond of the chocolate ones. They’re not terrible, just different I guess.

I’ll be baking cupcakes tomorrow, for the small Christmas gathering at my mom’s Christmas Eve. My nephews will be helping me decorate those. We’re doing white icing, swirled on top, with red and green stripes along the swirls and then we’re topping it off with Christmas tree sprinkles. I have a feeling my sisters kitchen is going to be a disaster for a couple of hours. Thankfully we’ll have time to clean it up before she gets home.

I’ve been rather “blah” these last few days. I think it’s the change in weather (going from mild to much cooler) and all the running around I’ve been doing. I feel like a chicken with it’s head cutoff! I think I have everything together, gifts purchased and ingredients too. Then I get home and realize I forgot something. The sad part is I’ve been taking a list with me every time I’ve had to run out to the store. For some reason I’m striking out items I haven’t even put in the shopping cart. Ha, ha. I think that’s a sign that I just need to stop now. Just live with what I’ve got!

A part of me is going to be so happy when Christmas is over..

How we finally worked our way through wrapping every single gift, I do not know. I am, however, so happy we did! All of the gifts. I am such a perfectionist with gifts too. I know that the paper is going to be ripped to bits, but I still really enjoy wrapping and decorating each gift. I suck at making those fancy bows, but I can still work a little magic. Examples below (one wrapped gift, two gift bags finished with Christmas tree ornaments)

I really love the wrapping paper in the first photo. Blue is one of my favorite colors, so it was really nice to see something other than green, red and gold wrapping paper. I did a few gifts in those colors too, but only before I found the pretty blue one!

I thought I had finished up with my Christmas shopping, but it dawned on me earlier that I still need to buy a gift for my dad’s girlfriend. It wouldn’t hurt for me to get a little something else for my dad and mom too. I know I want to buy my mom a box of Turtles — her favorite chocolates — too. I’m not sure what else to buy for my dad. Any suggestions? That won’t cost me a fortune?

Overall, I am pretty excited about Christmas. I’ve said Christmas is exhausting a lot recently, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this time of year. My nephew Tyler is going to flip out over the autographed Jimmie Johnson (Nascar, #48) pictures. I can’t wait to bake cookies for “Santa” with my nephews too. We’re making all kinds of goodies actually; cookies of all kinds, fudge and maybe even some truffles if I get motivated enough to try them this year!

The only thing that could possibly make Christmas a little better at this point would be a miracle — snow. Not enough to slow us Georgia folks down, but enough to at least stick to the ground. It would definitely be better than all of this soggy stuff in the forecast that’s for sure!

OK, Christmas in it’s entirety isn’t nerve-wracking, just things like; shopping for gifts, not really knowing what to buy someone, planning parties and cleaning up the aftermath of those parties.

I have only just started my Christmas shopping and we’re down to less than 2 weeks?? Ouch! I did manage to order Nikki’s (youngest sister) oldest boys their comforters. Tyler is really into skateboarding & skulls, so I found a bedding set that will be perfect for his room in their new house (pictured below, on the left). Landon wanted a beach & surf theme for his room. Since he loves “Surf’s Up” (movie), we went with that (pictured below, on the right).

I have no idea what else to buy for these boys, and Trent (their younger brother). I usually have it a little more together this time of year! I had originally planned on buying them each a set of pajamas. My mom beat me to it. I do have wall-decals picked out, but my mom is acting like she’ll be buying those too! I asked the boys to make out a Christmas “wish list” a few weeks ago, but they insisted on mailing it off to “Santa” that very afternoon. Unfortunately Aunt Teesa (what they call me) isn’t one of those lucky folks with the photographic memories — AT ALL. The only thing I can remember from the entire list are these few things; Jonas Brothers (Landon), Rock Band Country (and my sister has already gotten this) and, a million dollars — the best impossible gift ever!

For everyone else, I’m clueless. My parents both swear they would rather us not buy them anything because they have everything. I really should write out a list of who I still need to buy for and possible ideas. Actually, I should have done this last month. I’m getting a headache thinking about this stuff!

Speaking of my nephews though; Landon had to write sentences using specific words in each one a few days ago. I chuckled a bit at #11!!

I really should stop procrastinating now though. I have a design I need to finish troubleshooting and we’re having a Christmas party this evening that I should probably pretty up for!