Leading up to Christmas

The days leading up to Christmas were a bit of a blur. Went to two work related Christmas parties. They were pleasant ~ nothing formal. I think I overdressed for both. Low key and casual seemed to be the thing this year. Richard's office party was actually at his office this year. Part of the reason was that they just moved into new office space and wanted to show it off. Spouses and children were both invited, which was nice. Unfortunately Richard still had to work for a few hours after the party but it was his last day before a 2 week vacation. Kids had a good time cause one of Richard's coworkers lives in our neighborhood and his kids go to the same school so they actually had someone to hang out with. They also did a treasure hunt of sorts. The company occupies 3 floors of the new building and there were stuffed reindeer throughout the floors. If you found all of the reindeer you got a prize. Julianne got 2nd place but only because we couldn't find where to turn in the slips or she would have won.
Kids got out of school early the last three days and I was actually able to get everything wrapped and under the tree with time to spare. This is the first year I wasn't up until 1:00 am wrapping gifts.
Oh, I did do something really dumb ~ Like I said, Richard and the kids last days of work/school was on Friday and we, of course, had Sat & Sun where we finished up Christmas shopping and putting final touches on the house. Monday I woke up about 7:00 am, got some work done on the computer, did a bit of sewing, made breakfast for all of us and about 5 minutes after 10:00 am the phone rang. Nathaniel answered it and said "Mom, it's the quilt shop." I pick up the phone and say "Hi, what's up holyshit, I'm supposed to be at work!!!" I completely forgot that I was scheduled to work. You've never seen someone get dressed and out the door so fast. I can't believe I completely spazzed! I got into work about 10:30 and fortunately they weren't upset at all. It was actually pretty dead all day. I got to play one one of the sewing machines, working on samples for classes which was a lot of fun so it was all okay. I just felt really dumb!
Jen & Jeremy came in on Tues and Jen wanted to get a pedicure so I agreed to go with her. Apparently it was a ruse cause a pedicure for me was part of my Christmas present. They sure know what I like!
Nathaniel & Jules got early gifts from their "Grandma Judy" (Angie's mom)and they were allowed to open them. They both got Peace Frog t-shirts. We've lived a couple of places that had Peace Frog shops and whenever Angie would visit we would always take her there. The kids were happy to have the shirts ~ as a matter of fact Nathaniel put his on immediately and wore it for 2 days straight including to bed. They also got some cash from Grandma Judy which is always their favorite thing to get!