Looks like we made it!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Christmas was a lot of fun this year, and a lot of work. Christmas Eve we went to my brother-in-law's house for appetizers. While there, one of the little girl cousins smashed her finger in the door and practically chopped the tip off. Of course, it was MY daughter who accidentally shut the door. Now everyone has had a child hurt during the holidays except me, so I'm expecting it during the next get-together. She is fine now...they stitched it back on and it isn't broken; however, they are afraid her fingernail will not grow back. Then we came home and spread our reindeer food outside and made some cookies for Santa. Silly me thought that going to bed late would mean sleeping in late. HA! Riiiiiight.

Christmas Day was at my house, and started with my oldest getting up at 6:30 a.m. Since when does a teenager get up at 6:30??? I didn't take off my apron the entire day. My mother came over for a big breakfast, and then the entire family came over later for dinner. Thank goodness the trash man came today, because we had LOADS of boxes and wrap to turn in. My kids got pretty much everything they asked for. Santa didn't bring me anything because all I asked for was tuition money....my LAST semester!

Whew!

Can you hear that big *sigh* coming from Tennessee? I'm finally FINISHED. Exams are done, papers are graded, grades are posted, and shopping is complete! Now its on to the baking portion of our program...

Today has been the only day I've had free for a while. The wee one has been sick, and then school was out for two days because of the friggin' weather. I swear the weatherman and the school board have some kind of deal going....they call off school here even if there is the slightest PREDICTION of bad weather.

Still....I'm DONE. :)

Christmas Cards

This year I am cheating and sending email Christmas cards to some folks. Cheap, I know, but you gotta do what you gotta do. We went to see Santa yesterday and got some pretty decent pictures of the kids. The camera just loves to flash on the boys' glasses, but what can ya do. I was able to get all three of them to stand still and smile at the same time. Success!

My oldest son, Evan, tries SO HARD to stand taller than me. He's only got about 3-4 more inches to go. This was a better single picture of him....if only I knew how to photoshop and put this one into the group picture.

Last week of school and exams! Wish me luck!

The race begins!

I have now officially registered for my last classes for the Master's degree. My advisor talked me out of doing a thesis and going for a teaching project instead. He seems to think it will be much easier to do and will take me just one semester. As a rule of thumb, most students haven't been able to get a thesis done in one semester. I'm nervous and excited to be so close to completion! I'm tossing around ideas of using Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and Bram Stoker's Dracula, if I can get a good, manageable topic formed.

Otherwise, I'm THISCLOSE to being finished with my Christmas shopping. Sadly, there isn't as much to go around this year, but I am pretty sure most of us are feeling the pinch. I'll be glad to have everybody safe, healthy, and under one roof. It has been a rough year.