Christmas Catch-Up

Our Christmas season still hasn't completely wound down and I should be finishing up a few items to take to Oklahoma with us tomorrow, but I'm blogging instead. I'm afraid I'll be evicted from Blogland if I don't post something longer than a paragraph so here goes. (Got that cup of coffee or gallon of tequila ready? Okay...then let the rambling begin!) I was lucky enough to receive a lot of great things this year and I'm grateful for those who thought of me (and sometimes I really can't imagine why they chose to gift me with things...my attitude usually doesn't warrant such kindness. lol). Randey gave me a bottle of Brighton's Laugh perfume. I have Annie to thank for introducing me to the wonderful smells of Brighton perfumes. I bought myself the bottle of Dream - which I dearly love - way back in August, I believe, and Randey and the boys got me the bottle of Love for my birthday in September. Randey's decided that Laugh is his favorite (which is reason enough to wear it every day forever).
Randey also found me another Jim Shore cat, this one named Freedom. I already have Patience, Vigilance and Curiosity and Freedom fits right in with those three. There's something about these particular cats that I love. They just make me smile whenever I see them. Maybe because these cats don't make me sneeze!
Nick and Jodie sent me, among other things, a couple of Nicholas Sparks books and some clear stamps for scrapbooking and cardmaking. Actually, the "coffee" set of stamps were for my birthday (right, Jodie?) but I included them in the picture because I can't seem to quit looking at them. I'm all excited to use them. And Jodie, Susan got me an embosser for Christmas so I'll let you know how that works out (need to get some brown embossing powder so i can use my tasty looking Hot Chocolate stamp). Yum-o! As to the Nicholas Sparks books, Jodie's read them all and I've been saying for quite awhile that I'm going to read them, too. Now I have no reason not to. My only problem is getting hooked on them because then I'll feel compelled to buy every one he's ever written (Nick comes by his obsessive collecting honestly!).
Kaleb, who turned 17 years old just this past Thursday (Happy Birthday, son!!), got me this soup tureen for Christmas. Isn't it beautiful? I have developed this strange fetish for soup tureens lately and I can't even begin to tell you why. I just love them and feel the need to collect a couple (or a couple hundred, if I'm lucky -ha). I'm up to 3 now...and this one is my favorite, for obvious reasons. What a great kid, huh? And speaking of Kaleb being a great kid, look at what else he got me...this Darth Vader snowglobe! How goofy is this? I have to laugh at the thought of Vader making his list and checking it twice. Pretty sure this is one list no one wants to be on....

My Star Wars Christmas didn't stop there. My Aunt Ginger sent me this:
I don't care who you are, this is just plain funny. Darth Vader using a frozen Death Star to make snowballs. Oh come on! Yeah, yeah, yeah...so Vader and Christmas don't exactly go hand in hand. But it's still funny.
Aunt Ginger also sent this absolutely adorable figurine. It's R2-D2 all decked out for Christmas. R2 and Luke Skywalker are my all-time favorite Star Wars characters. I didn't even know they made this little Christmas figure so you can imagine how excited I was when I opened it. Awesome, huh?

Before Christmas, on the 20th, my very best friend in the whole wide world came to visit. Susan and her husband, Terry, drove in from Florida and stayed until Christmas Eve, when they drove back so they could spend Christmas Day with their kids and grandkids. It was so wonderful to see them - truly. Unfortunately, Randey did everything in his power to corrupt Terry with the Evil X-Box 360. It wasn't long before Terry started showing signs of addiction. So sad. Look at his eyes....

The "remove red-eye" feature on my computer couldn't get rid of that glow. (Click to enlarge). That oughta tell you something. He was almost possessed by this. It's far too late to save Randey from it, but I never saw it coming with Terry. I'm ashamed that his fever started in my home and I hope Susan was able to cure him before he made it back to their home. Tsk, tsk. That Randey. Some friend, huh?

Speaking of friends, I have a little bet to settle with Susan. She seems to think I was, perhaps, just a little bit...oh, what's the word...mean maybe?, when I bought her Christmas gift. She had told me that her doctor was making her check her sugar level several times a day because she was borderline diabetic. So, being the caring, understanding, full-hearted and loyal friend that I am, I chose gifts that I felt would help her in her on-going battle with keeping that sugar level at a reasonable level. I bought her these things:

Was that not nice? Don't these gifts just scream "I love you and want you to stay around for another 50 years" (yeah, that's another thing, Susan will be 50 years old this coming Tuesday, January 1st. Apparently, she's getting a tad bit cranky in her old age because she seemed to think I was being snarky and somewhat less than sincere with my gifts. Can you imagine????). I was only trying to help, I swear. She told me that she wanted me to pose the question to you, my blogging friends, to see what you thought of my gift. So tell me, guys: Was I being mean or snarky or sarcastic, etc., etc., etc.? Okay, before you answer that, let me add that I also got her a lovely Rachael Ray cookbook and a cookbook stand and a few bookmarkers and really nice smelling Morenci candle. The Splenda and Splenda Cookbook were bought for her own good. And it's not my fault that company named their book Diabetes for Dummies, now is it? Right? Nor is it my fault that Susan got me, among other things, a bag of Hershey's Chocolate Kisses while I got her something geared more towards a "healthy" lifestyle. In fact, I would say that I was the one who got her the nicer gift. She was just looking to fatten me up even further while I, her loyal, kind and loving friend was looking out for her health. So before you answer that question, people, be sure to consider all the facts. And if you chose to go with Susan's side, beware! I'll probably just delete your comments and tell her that everybody voted my way anyhow, 'cause that's just how I am. So don't even waste your time siding with her. Okie-dokie? Having said that, I'll go ahead and admit that I tried these same arguments on Susan and they didn't work with her either. (I've really got to work on not smirking when I'm trying to look sincere.) Now let's move on, shall we?
Hey,check out what Jayme sent me!

How sweet is this? I love that little notebook. I usually carry a small notebook around in my purse to write down those massively profound thoughts that flit through my head when I'm standing in line at Wal-Mart and now I can write them down in style. Jayme is just the sweetest person. I was surprised and touched by these gifts - I just can't tell you how much.
And how about this beautiful card from Debbi, who lives Down Under in the Land of Aus. Isn't this amazing? So many layers and so many little details. I love it and will keep it out year round in my little scrapbooking room (where all my treasures stay!).
Finally, (hey! WAKE UP! We're almost at the end!), Randey, Kaleb, Jacob and I went to see National Treasure II, the Book of Secrets. It was wonderful!! I have to go see it again because there is just so much in there that is interesting - it's well worth seeing twice. Or even 3 times. Maybe even 4. Yeah, people, I loved it that much. Go see it! What are you waiting on? Go! NOW! Let me know what you think. And don't forget to leave a comment telling me how great my gift to Susan was. (I need all the support I can get on this...there's no telling the revenge she's already plotting!)