our holiday weekend--a visual

I'd planned to try to jump back into the blogging world today with some mini book babble and whatnot, but life (or at least this damn virus, which technically isn't living) had other plans. I seem to have gotten the flu. :(  I honestly can't remember the last time I actually had the flu...but I'm pretty sure that's what this is...fever of over 102, alternating between uncontrollable shivering and being thoroughly drenched in sweat, feeling as if my body was hit by an eighteen-wheeler and one of those wheels is still resting squarely atop my head, wheezing that reminds me of Annie in the midst of an asthma attack. Put simply, I feel like crap. But as mothers everywhere know, there's no such thing as a "sick day." Just figures that the boys don't have school today and tomorrow, huh?

Okay, okay...enough bitching and whining. Brain is not up to thinking. But hopefully I can handle uploading a few pictures from our long holiday weekend. It was a bit subdued this year...missing a dear friend and worrying about another...but we still managed to have a lot of family fun.

Cooking, and crafting, and wrapping. Oh my. (Started making Christmas cards, but yikes, I've got a long way to go. And I got my Book Blogger Holiday Swap gifts wrapped and ready to mail, but I'm thinking a trip to the post office is not going to happen for me today.)

The trees, big and small, went up. (The kids each have their own small tree in their bedrooms.)

Oh, how I love that sweet, angelic face to the right...despite the fact that "angelic" is quite misleading. ;)















And to this mom's eyes, this girl's beauty far outshines the tree itself. 

Our "big" tree is decorated solely in ornaments made by family and friends. :D It's such fun chatting every year about who made each one. Even the pipe cleaner garland was created by Gray a few years back. And which I have to admit I thoroughly love...and not just because I adore its creator.

And tree decorating wouldn't be tree decorating without eggnog and Christmas music.

Baker singing along. This dog freakin' loves Christmas! (Especially opening presents.)

But he's not the only one who has been caught under the tree.

The cats, thus far, have stayed out of the tree. However, thanks to Lucky, we have had our first holiday mishap of the year, as evidenced in the before and after shots above.

And I managed to get a lot of other decorating done, too. Though I'm far from finished.

 Here's to a happy holiday season for all.