Ho Ho HO!!!!

Santa has come and gone.

Kylie's gifts include...clothes, a doll, nail polish, the game Operation, lip gloss, bubble bath and lotion, and a piano.

Rhett's gifts include...clothes, box set of The Police cds, pencils, an i-pod skin, an i-tunes card, shoes, and a drum set.

Anthony's gifts include...clothes, pajama pants, art pencils, music books, an i-tunes card, and an electric guitar.

Jason's gifts include...a camo day planner, a coffee mug with a pheasant on it, a t-shirt with a Lab on it, a sweatshirt with a pheasant on it, some pajama pants, a gift to AAA membership (which we already had to use, but that's another story), and a gift card for favors from me (you fill in the blanks as to what those favors are).

My gift include...TONS of clothes, boots, perfume, a Scottie dog brooch, Nike tennis shoes, Cabela's candles, and a candle warmer. The pants I got, Jason ordered on-line from Victoria's Secrets, and they are all really big. Either their sizes just run big, or I have lost weight. But any ways, we had to send them all back to get a smaller size.

Grandpa Palmer got a puzzle, a puzzle mat, and a Lifesaver Storybook.

Dinner was good. And the best part is, we still have plenty of left overs.

I am still tired from having to stay up well after 1 am Christmas morning...I think Rhett caught Santa, but won't admit it...time will tell I guess. When we were out getting rid of the garbage, our neighbor across the street was doing the same thing. I told him I was glad we weren't the only parents up so late...

But all in all, it was a very nice Christmas. I think we all missed my mom very much, but we had some good memory moments of her, and we tried to joke more than dwell on the fact she wasn't with us.

I told my dad about my dream, and he teared up, but he thanked me for telling him.

He gave me a list of headstone ideas and wants Elaine and I to pick it out. There are so many to choose from, and SO many of them have crosses on them. What's up with that? I know mom wouldn't want crosses on it. I told Jason that we should pick ours out now, so there won't be any weird choices made by us after we're gone.

With mom being buried in Yerington, it's a county cemetery, and the families really have a lot of options for the grave site. This summer we want to place her headstone, put in a curb and lay paver stones. From there, we may put a bench, and some kind of a cat statue. The options really are endless. I like that. Makes it feel more personal and loving than the options you get here in the city (grass and a flat grave marker that a lawnmower can go over, no more no less)

My dad jokes about finding a "red head" to hook up with. I don't think he's ready to settle back down yet, but I think joking about it takes the pain away a bit. As a joke, we tried to find him a redhead duck decoy, but were unable to do it.

Jason started working at Cabela's last night. He's going to be working in the Archery department 4 nights a week. Fun. Sure hope we get a call from the Sheriff's office soon.

Anyways, people in the fish business are just starting to realize that New Years is here (busiest season of the year and we are busy). I swear people live under rocks or don't have calendars or both. It's like they wake up to find out this big surprise of New Years being here, and it then becomes our problem to figure out how they are going to get the special order items we told them to order 2 weeks ago. I have learned in 12 years of this business, chefs are really clueless...

Anyways, should get back to the fish business...