Heck with the goose...

Christmas is coming and *I* am getting fat. No goose necessary in this version of the song. My mom manages an LA weight loss center. She informed me that 70% of America gains an average of 12 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years. Blah. But the way I've been going, it's not hard to believe. My jeans are going to be muffin toppin' pretty soon, and we all know there's nothing attractive about that. I have to say between my BIL's birthday bbq (his favorite thing is hamburgers, and who can resist delicious summer food they haven't eaten for months?) and scrumptious desserts shared with our neighbors last night, I already have some work to do.

I have to say, I think our neighborhood party was a success. I have boxes of canned food on my kitchen counters that we collected last night. Some neighbors didn't come, but out of the 2 no shows, one sent some canned food along with their regrets and a valid excuse, so I was happy with the turn out. We talked and laughed, shared traditions, and one neighbor already volunteered to host next year- so I'm off the hook, hopefully for a few years to come! I think one thing enjoyed by all the neighbors was my hot chocolate "station". I had cups next to a crock pot full of hot chocolate, and then a bunch of fixings in little bowls- candy canes, caramel sauce, marshmallows, sprinkles, and whipped cream, so you could create your own flavor of hot chocolate. Who doesn't love hot chocolate?

I still have some Christmas shopping to finish, but I'm feeling pretty good about what I have done so far. The packages have started arriving, which is one of my favorite parts of internet shopping. Today I dragged some boxes in the house, and Addie looked at them and matter of fact-ly stated, "oh, Santa came?". No dear, his suit is red, not brown, and his packaging is a little more exciting than a cardboard box. I thought it was pretty funny, though.

Sam is growing up so fast! Last week I looked over to see him walking across the floor holding on to Addie's rocking chair. Um, that's not supposed to happen yet! So I pulled out a little walker toy, but he's not totally interested which is fine by me. Today I found him with one leg up ready to hoist himself to standing position on previously mentioned rocking chair. He's becoming quite the climber. He is still the happiest kid. His naps are all over the place lately, I think because he's trying to cut back to one nap a day, so hopefully we'll get his schedule back on track soon.

Tomorrow is our ward Christmas party and I'm really excited. We're doing "A Night in Bethlehem", so tomorrow's task is to fashion some costumes for the fam. I'd love for Sam to go as a sheep, but I'm not sure that's going to happen when I'm doing costumes the day of which will mostly consist of sheets and towels. Hopefully I'll get around to taking Christmas pictures of my house before the season is over. I'm happy to find blogging time at all, right now! Two weeks 'til the big day, friends.