Birthday freebies

With my birthday 5 days away, I figured I'd lighten things up a bit with a fun post! This one's all about birthday freebies.

If you know me, you know I love a deal, and a deal is even better if it's free. I strongly dislike junk email, but at the same time, it's a small price to pay for some pretty cool freebies come birthday time! Also, sometimes when you sign up for an email list, you get a free item or really good coupon just for signing up + a birthday freebie.

Check out my list of fave freebies below and feel free to chime in on the comments with some of yours that I may have missed!

Arby's: Free small milkshake

Auntie Anne's: free pretzel (you have to download the app)

Aver's Pizza (Bloomington, IN): Free lunch or dinner buffet

Baskin Robbins: 1 free scoop of ice cream

Buffalo Wild Wings: Free snack size wings (dine in only)

Chili's: 80 rewards points, which can be used for a free appetizer or dessert (dine in only)

Classic Lanes Bowling (Bloomington, IN): $5 credit (must be used on your birthday)

CVS Pharmacy: $5 ExtraBucks Rewards (store credit)

Dairy Queen: BOGO free Blizzard coupon

Denny's: free grand slam (must be used on your birthday)

DSW: $5 off coupon

Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse: $25 off lunch or dinner (This one's KILLER! Lunch IS $25, and Dinner is like $50. HUGE savings, especially since my Kimmy is 3 and will eat free.)

G.H. Bass & Company: 20% off shopping pass

Godiva: $10 e-gift card for use in store or online (You better believe I got me some free chocolate!)

Golden Corral: Free adult buffet with purchase of an adult buffet

Great American Cookies: Free cookie cake slice with the purchase of a regular soda

HuHot Mongolian Grill: BOGO free adult entrees

MaggieMoo's: free small cup or cone with unlimited mix-ins

Mastercuts: $3 off a haircut (which I seriously need to take advantage of!)

McAlister's Deli: $5 off a meal

Moe's Southwest Grill: free entree with purchase of a drink (burrito, bowl, taco, quesadilla, etc. One item = an entree, whether a big burrito or a smaller taco)

Noodles & Company: Free regular size bowl of noodles up to $9 (that's enough to add in a protein fo' free, too!)

Olive Garden: Free dessert of your choice (dine in only)

Panera Bread: Free bakery pastry

Payless Shoes: 25% off shopping pass (no excluded items)

Pizza X: Free 4-pack of chocolate chip cookies (No other purchase required as long as you pick up)

Potbelly Sandwich: Free cookie

Red Lobster: $5 off 2 adult entrees (dine in only + not a super great coupon)

Scotty's Brewhouse (Bloomington, IN): $10 credit (dine in only)

Sephora: free birthday sample make-up pack (no purchase required if picked up in store, but "free with purchase" if ordered online)

Shoe Carnival: $5 off $29.98 purchase coupon

Starbucks: free drink or food item (can be used on any one menu item; go for the biggest, most caffeinated thing you desire!)

Steak 'n' Shake: Free double steakburger and small fries

Sushi Bar (Bloomington, IN): free meal on your birthday when you have a 5+ person table

Texas Roadhouse: free appetizer-size order of ribs or regular appetizer with purchase of an adult entree.

TGI Friday's: free dessert with entree purchase

Tidewater Grill (Charleston, WV): discounted adult meal on your birthday (if dining with 1 other person, 50% off; if dining with 2 other people, 33% off, etc.)

WhichWich: Free 7" sandwich 

Okay, that's all I've got for now. There may be more to come before or after my actual birthday! Oh, and if you're wondering, no, I won't be using all of these...but most of them, yes. Enjoy!

-Kels

P.S. If you do any online shopping this holiday season, you had better be using ebates! I even got cash back from my $1.50 overage after applying my Godiva coupon online. Woot woot!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Wow, where to start? Today was awesome and fun and busy and hectic and tiring and amazing. Perhaps the best Christmas Eve of all time! Today was about as "typical Kelsey" as a day can get. It felt good!

This morning I meant to get up super early and get a lot done. Did that happen? Nope. Slept in until 6:30 at first, when I discovered Kimmy standing at the foot of the bed playing with my blanket. I'm still unclear whether she was awake or sleepwalking. I told her to get back in bed, and then I didn't get up until 8:00! I took a shower and got completely ready and had to go coax her out of sleep because she was so knocked out. Got her dressed, and our day officially started!

First, we hopped in the car and drove through McDonald's for a lazy-mom breakfast. Then we went to my work, so I could do payroll real quick and for Kimmy to meet a few of my coworkers. You never know what a toddler will do, so I certainly didn't expect Kimmy to waltz right in confidently and hold up her foot to show my coworker her Cinderella light-up shoe. LOL! So random. She happily ate her McD's breakfast and acted like she was perfectly at home in the office with Mommy.

Once we finished up there, it was off to Indy for free admission day at the Children's Museum. We had never been because it's not really in our budget, so I thought free day was a good time to go. Parking was also free, which is a major winner in my book.

We got there a little before 11:00am, and holy crap it was packed. Not just buzzing, but PACKED. If I had claustrophobia, I would not have made it out of the parking garage. I vowed not to let myself get too stressed out (it's really hard to take a young child somewhere all by yourself and not be intimidated or nervous), keep a strict eye on the Kim-bird at all times, and have fun.

And have fun, we did! Actually, "fun" is an understatement. There was so much to do! Kimmy loved everything--the dinosaur and train play tables, the musical instruments, water table, sand, drawing with chalk, the holiday displays, the giant polar bear on the 2nd floor (which we had to go back to 4 times because she was so enthralled), dinosaur bones, blown glass with plastic play versions for kids, the big train car you could walk through, the play castle near where Santa was, and, heck, even the hand dryers in the bathrooms and ramps to and from each floor--and I loved watching her have fun. She had a blast! We probably walked 2 miles seeing everything.

After the first hour of exploration, we got in line to meet Santa. We waited less than an hour, I think, but it was exhausting. There were kids running around everywhere, people getting in and out of line for bathroom breaks and phone calls and who knows what else, and Kimmy was starting to feel tired. I basically split the wait time between watching her like a hawk and grabbing her anytime she tried to run off and holding her on my hip, so she could lay her sleepy head on my shoulder and rest. Hard manual labor with a 30-lb. toddler.

We finally made it to the front of the line, and the much-anticipated first-ever Santa meeting took place. Kimmy LOVED Santa. She was mesmerized. She whispered, "Wowwwwwww." as she walked up to him. (She also stuck her foot up and showed him her Cinderella light-up shoes. They are apparently her most beloved possession right now.) She sat still as a statue as I snapped a picture of her with Santa Claus. She was starstruck and completely in awe. So hilarious to watch her reaction! Also, this Santa was the best ever. He was 100% in character and didn't show the slightest annoyance at any of the children or 4 hours of non-stop photo opps. Very impressive.

We hung out at the museum until 1:00, when Kimmy was just too tired to go on. We never made it to the 4th floor to ride the carousel, but luckily the Jay-jee wasn't even aware there was one up there! Before we left, though, we went to the gift shop. I have to say that I am a pro at finding the coolest cheap things to get at museum/aquarium/zoo gift shops, and this was no exception. I'm pretty proud of that skill. But what made my finds even better was the nice mother in the line next to me who used her museum member pass on my purchase to save me 15%. It was such a nice gesture! In my opinion, the best moms are the ones who help each other out and have each other's backs. I hope mystery mom and her kiddos have the best Christmas ever because her small kindness made my day a whole lot brighter, especially after several stressful hours of wading through throngs of people bouncing around like pinballs because of their unpredictable toddlers' footpaths.

As we were walking the skywalk over to the parking garage, I noticed that Kimmy was slowing down, down, down until she was barely even picking up her feet to walk. Hilarious! I carried her the 500 ft. back to the car, and she was asleep in about 5 minutes.

Okay, so all week I had been planning to go to the 4:30pm Christmas Eve service at our church, but as I was driving home today, the GPS was giving me a 2:37pm ETA to our apartment. I decided that I could most likely get us home, changed into church clothes, and to the church just about right on time for the 3:00pm service. Challenge accepted, self.

In typical Kelsey fashion, I caught every red light in town on the way home. We arrived at 2:45, but I somehow got us to church at 3:00pm on the dot. BOOM!

If you know me, you know my Christmas Eve traditions include church hopping to as many candlelight services as possible and singing as much Christmas music as possible. Kim and I used to go to as many as 5 services in one night! So, I've seen it all, or so I thought. This service was way different, though.

Sherwood Oaks put on an AWESOME service! Not your same-old-same music. No candles, but the Wham City Lights phone app. I loved it!!!!! Probably my favorite service ever. The best part was the last song with the app with all the color-changing phone screens. The music was like Christmas carols meets Jersey house music. So much fun! The 8-ish year old boy in front of me was jumping up and down and fist pumping the whole time. It was hilarious! I left with a big smile my face and in my heart. I love a lot of things about Bloomington, Indiana, but the number 1 on my list is my church home.

After church, we ran to Kroger. I know, I know...shopping on Christmas Eve. But I really couldn't help it. My Thirty-One and PartyLite commissions hit my bank account today, and Kimmy was 100% out of allergy medicine. I grabbed that, and Kimmy and I picked out our cake mix and icing for Jesus's birthday cake that we're making tomorrow. I really wanted to make it symbolic and do red velvet cake with pure white icing to be able to chat about the blood and the blanketing of our sins with forgiveness, yadda, yadda, yadda. I guess I temporarily forgot that I have a very girly 2-year-old who is very into pretty, sparkly things as my best mate. She picked out white cake mix and bright purple icing with big multi-colored sprinkles. Well, first she picked out bright pink icing with pink sugar sprinkles, which I smoothly nixed (by showing her a few better options like purple and blue) because I'm not big on pink. Purple it is.

Here comes the interesting part: I was sitting in the backseat buckling Kimmy into her carseat after our shopping trip, when an impatient person started pulling into the parking spot next to us. Door wide open and me being the [too] nice person I am, I pulled the door closer to me. Well, the wind blew it shut completely. Annnnnd, let's just say the child safety lock feature works perfectly in my car. Yep. Locked in the backseat with my child, despite the unlocked door.

Well, being that Kimmy's carseat is in the middle seat and is rear-facing, that left about a 1 ft. space from the top of her seat to the ceiling...a space that I was forced to dive through face first to transport myself to the front of my unlocked-from-the-outside car.

Yes, this really happened. I could not make it up. This is my life.

I'm sure my child now thinks I am the weirdest human being on the planet based on her facial expression as this was happening. My antics may push her into teenage embarrassment mode well before her time. I could definitely see this happening. Go ahead and laugh!

When we got home (at 5:00pm, which is an awesome time to be in for the night on Christmas Eve, by the way), we had our fancy cheese and crackers platter (Pierce traditional Christmas Eve dinner) and a whole lot of blueberries, followed by couch cuddles and Christmas movies. As I got my lovey ready for bed, I gifted her with a Christmas sticker book, Maisy's Christmas. She absolutely loved it! I see a fun new tradition in our Christmas Eve bedtime wind-down! She thought the stickers she could insert into the story were ultra-cool. Toddler moms: I highly recommend this book!

As I was tucking my sweet child in bed, I asked her what her favorite part of our day was. She said, "I saw Santa!" So, there's that.

After she went to bed, I finally got her gifts wrapped and put under the tree. As I sat back down on the couch to watch a Hallmark movie, I had a stunning realization:

I. Am. So. Sore.

My feet are Disneyworld sore. My back is 9th-month pregnancy sore. My biceps are Arnold Schwarzenegger sore. However, my heart is overflowing. Single mom busy-day, non-workout workout for the win. I wouldn't trade this day for all the money in the world.

Merry Christmas, friends! I hope your day was as amazing as ours.

More later.
-Kels

Cabbage rolls

Happy New Year! I'm not big on considering New Years a holiday, but I'll go with it. I like the symbolism of a fresh start, but I truly loathe new year's resolutions. Personally, I don't feel that I need a new year for a new goal. If I want to set a new goal, I just do it, no matter what time of year! I like it better that way for multiple reasons, but especially so I don't fall into the pool of people who crumble under the pressure and fail miserably at their resolutions a month or two in.

Regardless, we had a wonderful first day of January! Jarrell had work, but I had the day off. Kimmy and I woke up a little before 8:00am, ate breakfast, and watched some cartoons in bed. We were both so sleepy and on the verge of dozing off, so I put her back in her bed and got back in mine. We ended up going back to sleep until almost noon! It was wonderfully refreshing. After that, I fed her her lunch and got to work on my cabbage rolls. We played all afternoon until she took nap #2. That evening when Jarrell got home from work, our friends Josh and Laura had just arrived, and dinner was almost ready. We enjoyed a lovely evening of good food and good conversation...and a little of the Rose Bowl game. I love having friends who live close by and don't mind our cluttered, toddlery home!

So, let's talk cabbage rolls. In my hometown (and I suppose southern WV in general), everyone makes cabbage rolls on New Years Day. Everyone. It's actually almost impossible to find cabbage or sauerkraut in the grocery store if you wait until New Years Eve/Day to shop. My childhood is full of memories of Gugs's NYD cabbage rolls with half-dollars or quarters inside a select few. If you found one with a coin, you were supposed to have good luck the whole year through. It's just an old superstition and purely for fun, but we always looked forward to it.

My Gugs is one amazing cook, and I'm so glad I've grown up cooking this recipe with her. It's one that I'm proudly sharing because it's just so delicious and fulfilling. However, I did tweak it ever so slightly this time around. I added a few things, and I altered it to make fewer rolls, since it's basically just Jarrell and I having a go at this year. Anyway, here goes:

Cabbage Rolls (to feed 2 - 4 people with leftovers...so, about 20 rolls)
Ingredients:
1 large head green cabbage
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef, raw
1 medium onion, diced
3 c. white rice, cooked
1/2 c. fresh parsley, chopped
1 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. black pepper
1 large jar/package/can sauerkraut (do not drain)
1 large can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
1 regular-sized can tomato sauce
1 package kielbasa or smoked sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 4"-ish pieces
Potatoes

Directions:
Boil a large pot of water and cook cabbage with lid on about 20 minutes or until softened and brightly colored. Cook rice and set aside to cool. (Minute rice is fine, but it tends to lose its texture through the 2nd cooking process. If you have the patience for regular medium/long-grain white rice, use that.) Submerge cabbage in a large bowl of ice water to cool. In a separate large bowl, combine ground beef, onion, rice, parsley, salt, and pepper--doesn't have to be homogenous, but you don't want massive chunks of meat that won't cook evenly. Flip your head of cabbage to the core side and slice through leaves individually with a sharp knife, removing leaves to a colander to drain. If some leaves are smaller, that's okay; hang on to them, in case you need a patch for a torn leaf. In a large stock pot or crock pot, add a thin layer of kraut, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. On a large cutting board or clean counter, assemble your rolls. Put about 1/2 c. of filling in each cabbage leaf, and roll it up like a burrito. Add them to your pot seam side down. If you have a torn leaf or one that's too small to hold the filling, double wrap it. Add the remaining kraut, tomatoes, and tomato sauce on top of the assembled rolls in the pot--the weight will help hold the rolls down and stay sealed. If there isn't enough liquid to cover, add more. These take 4 hours on high in a crock pot or 1 hour boil-to-strong-simmer on a stovetop. Serve with mashed potatoes and fried kielbasa/sausage

Now, my family quarters and dices the sausage and puts it right in the stock pot. It adds a great flavor, but I've found that the soft texture really bothers me. You don't get that nice, tense crunch through the sausage casing like you do when you sear it in a pan. We served the sausage on the side for the first time last night, and it was so delicious! Get a nice forkful of cabbage/filing, mashed potatoes, and sausage, and, in the words of my brother, "your tastebuds will haaaaave a party!"

To all my readers, I wish you a 2014 full of Christ, family, success, love, wealth, smiles, laughter, and all the things that make you happy!

-Kels

This Christmas

Wow, where to start? The last week (or however long it's been since I last posted) has been so eventful--full of good and bad.

Miss Kimmy came down with a stomach virus on Friday. As soon as I left for work, she projectile vomited twice. Brooke is a saint for cleaning up that mess. Baby puke is no fun!

Little miss and I left for WV Friday after I got off work, and while she didn't puke in the car, she was NOT feeling well at all the whole weekend. She barely drank water on Saturday. She wouldn't eat. She finally started drinking water Sunday, except it made her vomit. Her poor little tummy was so upset. She must not have gotten too dehydrated, though, because she still went #2 just once a day. It was diarrhea, but still, much better than constant diarrhea with rash and all that. She's better now and has been eating like a little piggy!

I started having tummy troubles on Sunday that are still not fully resolved as of today. Jarrell, too. We're kind of a mess. I had to call off work on Monday, despite needing the money. Since Brooke was coming to watch Kimmy already, I used that morning to finish Christmas shopping, but I battled extreme nausea and bathroom runs all day. Ugh! We made a huge Christmas dinner yesterday, despite our stomachs turning us against even wanting to cook. Since our appetites are so dormant right now, we barely ate anything. We sat at the table forcing bites down. It was pretty pitiful! I must have overdone it because I threw up almost immediately after waking up this morning. (Sadly, I puked in the sink because it came up so quickly, and I'm pretty sure I clogged up the sink. Gonna have to call and have it looked at.) But, I'm sure we'll feel better in a few days.

We had a fun time in WV, despite Kimmy being so sick! We (really, Gugs and Mom) made Christmas goodies, like cookes and peanut-butter balls. Dad and I took my car to be serviced (state inspection, oil change, and tire rotation) and spent so much time farting around at Lowe's, Home Depot, and Rite-Aid that my car was done while we were still out, so we didn't have to go back out all day.

Kimmy and I had a LONG drive back on Sunday. I was so happy to get off the road and relax. It was also nice to get back to Jarrell.

Christmas Eve was spent cleaning, doing laundry, and making final Christmas preparations. Kimmy and I had a nice day together, but I kept thinking to myself all day, "I can't wait for her to open up her new toys tomorrow, so we'll have some new material to make believe and play with!"

We decided against going out to church, since Jarrell didn't get home from work until almost 8:00pm. Instead, I led a candlelight service in our living room right before Kimmy's bedtime. We prayed, sang, read Luke chapter 2, and took communion (saltine crackers and sparkling red grape juice). It was so nice! Kimmy whined the entire time because she was sleepy, so I was glad we were home, instead of being disruptive in church. It was also SO cold outside. I'm sure God appreciated the time we took to honor Jesus that evening.

I was giddy that night. I couldn't fall asleep until about 2:30am, and I was up by 7:00. I was just so excited for Kimmy's reaction! Santa Claus came around midnight and left Kimmy some great goodies: a play kitchen, a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal, and a Curious George stuffed animal.

Once my crew finally woke up a little after 8:00 on Christmas morning, we got to see how Kimmy liked her stuff! She didn't have much of a reaction at first--I think she didn't know if it was hers or not. Once she noticed her new babies in the floor, though, she went straight for George! I'm sad to say that after a long run in 1st, Mickey Mouse is now a strong 2nd place. Curious George and Kimmy have so much in common that I guess it was an inevitable switch.

She LOVES her kitchen! We had to pry her away from it to open up her play food, doll house, blocks, hug-me Elmo, 101 Dalmations Cruella DeVille car, clothes, books, and bath toys. She got so much awesome stuff! I'm glad it wasn't overdone, though. I saw so many pictures on Facebook of babies--little babies--with about 40 toys! I'm not judging; I think it's great to have new toys. For us, though, I just don't know where on earth we would store all that stuff. And does Kimmy tend to play with all her toys on a daily basis, but I think she would have been a little overwhelmed with more stuff than she got.

In fact, I think she was slightly overwhelmed. She woke up late last night crying and trembling, which is unusual for her. She remembered about her gifts and wanted to play, play, play into the night. I think she would've stayed up until about 4:00am if we had let her!

Jarrell got a 49ers jersey, Lord of the Rings extended edition Blu-ray set, The Heat on DVD, a calendar, and some yummy candy in his stocking.

I got way too much stuff. My parents and Gugs overdid it, as did Jarrell. Luckily, lots of it will experience shared usage. Here's the list: a beautiful gold-colored chenile throw for my couch, Downton Abbey seasons 1-3 on DVD, 3 cookbooks, a waffle iron, a toaster (YAY, finally! So tired of broiling and occasionally burning good bread), a 9x13 baking pan and lid, 2 round springform pans, a garlic press, a standing cheese grater, metal measuring spoons and cups, a jelly-roll pan with lid, a sweater, 2 tank tops, a pair of jeans, an IU hoodie, a calendar, the Divergent book series, Sophie's Choice on DVD, a stocking full of candy, and a few other things that aren't coming immediately to my mind. SO MUCH STUFF. I know it will all get used and am very thankful to have received so many nice things, but I feel bad that I didn't reciprocate the giving. Maybe next year I will have more money to do so.

Jarrell and I had a lazy Christmas, full of bathroom trips (I know...sorry), cooking, watching Downton Abbey and The Heat, playing with Kimmy, and napping. Well, Kimmy and I napped; Jarrell stayed up. We did manage to tidy up the living room, though, and we also did 2 loads of dishes!

Here's what we cooked:

• breakfast casserole (tater tots, sausage, onions, eggs, cheese)
• spinach-artichoke dip (SO GOOD!)
• roast duck
• Yukon gold potatoes fried in duck fat
• sauteed green beans and asparagus
• homemade yeast cloverleaf rolls
• broccoli-rice casserole
• deviled eggs
• red velvet cupcakes

We were also supposed to make roasted acorn squash with butter and brown sugar, as well as rice pudding. I just knew it would be futile, since we were so non-hungry already. I'll make those things in a few days when we're feeling a little better.

It was so nice not to have anywhere to be on Christmas day. We've always been obligated to family in WV or PA on holidays. Not that our visits haven't been nice, but it was wonderful to not even have to leave the house! We literally woke up, walked down the hall, opened gifts, cooked in our kitchen, ate at our table, and walked to our bedrooms at bedtime. I hope every year is this easy!

I had an important meeting on Monday, and I'm waiting on the results of that. Yes, I'm being cryptic; I know. I just don't want to be too verbal about it just yet, and I also need to wait to hear something officially. But, I *think* I will be getting some big, giant, GOOD news soon! I hope.

That's all for now, I suppose. I think I'm going to start keeping a running list of topics to blog about. Things come to me occasionally before I've had time to properly gather my thoughts about them. Then as quickly as they enter my head for brainstorming, they're forgotten. Hence the big gaps in posts sometimes. So, I think a list will help.

If anyone is reading, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

-Kels

Christmas, ahoy!

This month is FLYING by. Seriously. You know it's bad when my response to someone asking Kimmy's age at Picture People yesterday was, "Uhhh, 16 months...I think. Wait, it's December! Wow, yeah, she is 16 months."

I'm so excited for Christmas! That being said, I must express my disdain about something. IU doesn't close for staff on Christmas Eve, meaning that's not a paid vacation day for full-time staff. Not that that would apply to me, anyway, since I'm part time. But how are you gonna make Black Friday a paid holiday and not Christmas Eve? Really? Black Friday over Christmas Eve?! If not for the fact that it's a major Christian holiday alone, then at least for the sheer fact that so many employees will take that day off, most offices will get none to few phone calls, and the cost of opening the campus that day will probably outweigh any money brought in by productivity.

This whole thing made me realize that I'm very strongly opposed to working on Christmas Eve. My sincere empathy to anyone in retail or the medical field forced to work. I'm sorry.

So, I took Christmas Eve off! The $40 that I would have made from working is a small price to pay for spending my day with Kimmy (and Jarrell, after he gets off work), enjoying our new (and old) holiday traditions, like going to a candlelight service, baking, watching Christmas movies, and talking about Jesus.

I've been making lots of fun lists, and I've got our holiday festivities all planned out!

Christmas Eve:

• homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast

• appetizers all day...sausage balls, cheese ball, summer sausage, crackers, buffalo chicken dip, etc.

• baking pies and Santa's cookies and doing cooking prep

• candlelight service in the evening

• open 1 gift (Kimmy's gift is a Little People nativity)

• egg nog

• enjoying a fire in our fireplace

Christmas morning:

• breakfast casserole and fried apples and sparkling cider

• presents

• cooking

• family nap time

And here comes the best part!

Christmas dinner:

• spinach-artichoke dip with toasted baguette slices

• roast duck

• duck gravy

• potatoes fried in duck fat

• Lisa Haddox-Heston's broccoli-rice-mushroom casserole

• roasted acorn squash

• sautéed asparagus and green beans

• deviled eggs

• Mamaw Mabel's famous yeast rolls

• rice pudding

• bread pudding

• red velvet cake

• iced tea

• wine

I'm so excited to eat! Yes, that's a lot of food, but quite unlike our Thanksgiving feast (which Jarrell assured me several of his work friends would attend, despite my strong [and coincidentally valid] belief to the contrary), we are keeping the dishes small this time. Hopefully, we'll only be left with 2-3 days of leftovers.

I am eagerly awaiting Christmas morning! I'm curious to see what Kimmy thinks of her gifts, sure, but I'm also excited to celebrate the birth of Jesus and read some of my favorite scriptures from Luke to my Kimmy.

1 week left!

--

In other news, we got our family Christmas picture made last night, finally! We don't have time (or money) for personalized photo cards this year, but thanks to a great Groupon for a photo package, we have plenty of wallets and 4x6s to send to family and friends tucked in Christmas cards! For everyone else, I am going to make an e-card to send out. Gotta spread Christmas cheer as well as I can!

Kimmy and I are also going to WV this weekend for a quick trip. I've got to get my car's annual state inspection done, as well as an oil change and tire rotation. I think we are also going to do a little pre-Christmas celebration on Saturday. Should be lots of fun, minus that long drive!

More later.

-Kels