holiday prepping

the days leading up to christmas were busy and fun. well, mostly. with the ILs scheduled to arrive the weekend before the big day, we scrambled to get the house in order. with no time left to get professional carpet cleaners out to the house, i ended up tackling the job myself.

it was worth it though, because the house smelled pretty as a result. i despise cleaning, but it was good to get it done and see the difference it made. the hub was quite appreciative of my efforts too. 

speaking of the hub, check out the super hideous thing i threw together for him to wear to the cigar shop's first annual ugly christmas sweater party:

the bean helped me make some treats for him to serve. 

we worked on a bunch of gingerbread men for a friend:

found a great use for some leftover homemade caramel sauce:

and finally hung up the stack of lovely christmas cards we'd received. 

we managed to make it out to the americana to meet my folks for brunch, too. the bean posed in front of santa's cottage for me:

and then we stopped off at the concierge desk to have the teen use her newly-acquired professional gift wrapping skillz on a present. she'd managed to land a job that lasted for the two weeks before christmas, and she was pretty excited for the cash flow. pretty, right?

unfortunately, the bean found herself feeling pretty shitty and running a low-grade fever just hours after the ILs arrived. poor baby. 

a festive manicure helped boost her spirits a little. 

on christmas eve, we had dinner with g-wan and took her to church. the bean slept through most of it, but when we got home she managed to stay awake long enough to do some last-minute cookie decorating so she could leave some treats out for santa. 

christmas jammies all around!

every year, i scurry around to find all of the gifts i've bought and hid in secret spots all around the house. i then barricade myself in the bedroom, frantically cutting, folding and taping for what seems like hours until i just don't want to wrap a single present again for the rest of my friggin' life. every year. one day i will learn. just not this time. 

somewhere around 1:30am, it's finally all in place. 

because i am a doofus, i then attempt to create santa's footsteps on the floor using a pair of the hub's boots and a pan of flour. except that a cricket comes hopping out of one boot as i pick it up. i squeal like a little baby, drop the boot, and hop around like an idiot as i quietly freak the eff out. and then when i attempt the stupid footprints the flippin' flour won't stick and i end up creating nothing but a mess on the floor. so frustrating. 

needless to say, the half-eaten cookies ended up serving as our only "proof" of santa's visit after all. 

merry freaking christmas.