I am convinced that "Murphy" lives in my house (you know, the Murphy of Murphy's Law?).  I am ususally pretty on top of all the various Christmas activities that I want to accomplish.  I get the annual letter done, pictures taken, presents purchased and mailed, tree up, etc. all in plently of time.  Well, the tree is up and the house is decorated and that is about it.

I had grandiose plans to make amazing Christmas crafts for art class, bake cookies from scratch while teaching the kids how to properly measure and mix (math and science?) ingredients and help the children memorize scripture and the words to our favorite carols (since Xena thinks every line of "Away in a Manger" is "the little Lord Jesus lay down where He lay").  The ingredients for the cookies are still at the store and every line to "Away in a Manger" is still as stated above!  Christmas craft?  Is "hmmph" spelled with two "m"s or three?

All that aside, at least I could get the pictures done.  Here is where Murphy sticks his nose in... 

Seeing that there are only 15 (gasp!) days left until the 25th I figured tomorrow better be the day we get our Christmas card picture taken, uploaded and created.  So what happens today?  K.Z. went to a birthday party at a huge play place and while running managed to give himself a slight black eye.  Tonight Xena complained that her chin hurt and when I looked, it was red and chapped.  At least the picture will really represent what the kids look like!  I am just waiting for C'sa to fall down and get the normal black bruise on her forehead.  The Addams Family portrait would be complete!

It has taken me close to 32 years (I am 32) to fully appreciate all the effort my mother put into Christmas when I was a child.  The Christmas spirit was live and thriving in our house every year without a touch of visible stress.  That's all I want to recreate and every year it seems to get farther from my grasp!  So to try and get back that Christmas vibe I always had as a kid I popped in some Nat King Cole singing Christmas songs (it always takes me right back) and stopped to think about what it all really means.  Enjoy this Natalie Cole video.  It was the closest to Nat that I could get!