Christmas Day

Christmas Day dawned bright and crisp. The sun actually shone! We had no snow on the ground so travel was easy. Unfortunately I felt horrible when I woke up. I went home sick from work yesterday and felt even worse today. I almost cancelled the family get together, not wishing to make anyone sick. But as the morning went on I felt better and promised not to hold any babies,very hard to do, or hug or kiss anyone. We had a nice dinner and then opened gifts. The kids were really good even tho they were a bit tired from all the excitement. Everyone liked their gifts and I only have 2 to return. Thanks for all the wonderful gifts. It was nice to talk to my Mom and Midge and learn that Midge's daughter Katie is expecting a baby in August. Congrats to all there. Craig and Amy are having a nice time with their new little one and it's so nice that Amy's parents came all the way from Spokane, Wash. to spend the holidays with them and help out. Here's a little Christmas angel: Addy's first Christmas and she handled it very well! Cameron seemed to enjoy this box better than the gifts! I'll title this one :I've been framed!

Anthony is haming it up for YaYa with this pose with his Dad.

Now here is a little Princess for sure! Looking good Alexis...

Driana was very excited to receive a new guitar. It's one that Phil bought long ago and he had it refurbished for her. It turned out really nice. It's a great guitar.

Here's Addy and Daddy just chillin' out...

Phil showed Driana that the guitar really can sound nice and demonstrated a few cords for her. He hasn't lost his touch with music and I think he's very talented. He promised to give her lessons. She can sing, so maybe a girl band is in the future! Merry Christmas to all and now it's time to turn in...

Man we're a loud group!

Here are two videos from Sat. at Greg's. One is of Mom opening her white elephant gift...a lovely gargoyle, something everyone wishes they would receive! The other is good 'ol St. Nick making his annual appearance...George did a good job and we always have a laugh at his antics! The kiddos loved him tho! I just had to marvel at our exuberence...ie:loudness!

An Arends kind of Christmas!

When the decree to assemble for the annual Arends Christmas party comes, the members gather from all corners of the midwest to attend. The rules are simple: eat, drink, eat, be very loud, eat, bring a white elephant gift, eat, smile for the camera, eat, watch out for scary Santa ( he was actually sober this year!), eat, play the fun games Amy makes up, eat, laugh, hug, kiss, and always be soooooo thankful for what a blessing it is that we have this awesome family. Thanks to our host and hostess Greg and Deidra and following are a cast of characters: Here is Katie modeling her white elephant gift: you never know what lies beneath those pretty wrappings!

I not only recieved one, but two of these! I almost peed my pants I was so happy...Don't worry, they will reappear next year, just as they did this year.

We had many more little girls this year anxiously awaiting scary Santa...(George did a great job this year as Santa...Thanks!)

The only boy cousin this year was Andrew, Bill and Laura's new addition. He's a cutie!

Here's Mom with Vicky and George (not the Santa George) and Megan

Amy and Eric the little love birds...could Santa be bringing a ring this year? Just a suggestion Eric!

My baby brother Rick and his lovely wife Jan who traversed the snow all the way from the northern reaches of Wisconsin, then drove home Sunday in a blizzard! Thankfully all arrived safely.

My big brother Phil with little Mommo. She's looking stylin' as always!

I do have some video that will show the loud part of the rules but I'll post that tomorrow. Don't want too much of a good thing. After watching them I can't believe we really heard anything anyone said to us. No wonder we all kept smiling all night. Oh, did I mention the word eat? Starting Jan. 1st we're having something called "the Arends biggest loser" contest. It will be a seperate blog with instructions, rules, (of course) and best of all pics as we all get healthy for 2009!

UPDATE!!

Ok, another blog with no pics...for those go to Craig and Amy's blog. They had their beautiful baby girl on Thurs. Dec 18th...her name is Sophia May. They decided after looking at her that she looked more like a Sophia than a Jillian, and I have to agree! Ames got her wish of a baby with tons of dark hair!

Christmas shopping adventure

I think this is the first blog without pics. I went Christmas shopping tonight, and I could have taken the camera, but I think people would look at me funny if I stood around pointing and shooting with my pointing and shooting camera don't you think? I wasn't really worried that my shopping wasn't even hardly started (I did have Craig and Amy done after all). That is until everyone at work looked so darn shocked when I mentioned I really should start sometime...and then I realized next week is the big day...and I realized we're leaving for Chicago on Friday...and I realized I'm working all day Thursday...and I realized that's tomorrow...and I need to pack, clean house, make some more candy...oh never mind. Anyhow, I headed out around 5pm and power shopped until 11pm. Whew! I really hate shopping for people unless I have a nice list to follow. Summer and Anthony were the only ones to give me some ideas so everyone else will get the YaYa surprise. Usually Jack will come along and help me out. He's really good at remembering little things that people want, or the kids would like, or what he would like if he were a kid. But he's sick with what we in surgery lovingly call "monkey pocks". (a bad cold to all of you) So I was on my own. I guess what I'm getting at is I will apologize tonight for any weird stuff you might get. I'm still not done but I can shop in Chi-town. From what I remember they have a few good stores. Hey, my Mommo lives right across the 6lane highway from the most awesome outdoor shopping mall, mega extravaganza ever!!!!OakBrook Shopping Center. It's calling my name. So is Giorodono Pizza...so much yelling!! But I digress....next year I'm seriously thinking of having a gift card Christmas. Then all of you can power shop the day after Christmas while I sleep in! Hmmm....thanks for listening! P.S. Tomorrow is the big day for Craig and Amy and little Sophia to make her arrival! Here's my wish for a healthy, happy, sweet, sleep thru the night baby. This will be the best Christmas present ever.

Silly Dog Tricks

Eddy is now 5mo. old and Jord has done a pretty good job of training him. He's housebroke and hasn't had an accident in a long time. He can be trusted to sleep out of his kennel at night. He still chases poor squeak however and hopefully that will improve with time. (she's not exactly the friendliest cat around tho) Because my life is so boring and I don't have any cute little kiddos at my disposal, I've turned to Eddy for some intertainment...here are some tricks he learned...that dog will do anything for a scooby snack!

We're getting there

Everywhere you go people are always asking, "are you ready for Christmas?" My answer has been "we're getting there". No, the shopping's not done, the cards aren't done, the outside lights didn't get put up (Jack did put up the outside swags on the windows! My hero!). We did have the Church social last night but the tree still wasn't up. We were undecided about doing a real one or fake...fake won. Nobody was really interested in watering so I finally dug out the fake one I don't care for... but I think it turned out pretty good. Sort of like Charlie Brown, once the lights and decorations are all on, it looks like a nice tree! I'm not putting any presents under it (since I don't have many of them bought anyhow)because something tells me Eddy the fun loving boxer would just love to investigate to see what's inside...and eat it. I just hope he doesn't decide to chase Squeak around the tree and have a Craig and Amy moment! So my question for all of you is "Are you ready yet?" Please don't ask me....

Santa Claus and Whiney dog

While decorating for Christmas, I thought I would put out these special little Mrs and Mr Claus. I haven't unpacked them in over 10yrs...Midge made them for Jack and I when we were first married and I really love them. I was worried they wouldn't hold up so I packed them away to help keep them nice. Now that is really silly. How can you enjoy something if it's packed away?..even if it would last until eternity it isn't worth much if no one sees it. Well, anywho, I think they are dang stinkin' cute! What's really sad is Jack and I were in our 20's when Midge gave them to us and now we are looking very much like them...(I'm so glad God invented Miss Clairol or else I really would look like this Mrs. Claus!) I think this Santa has such a real looking face. I got him last year and he's pretty cool...I promise I won't show all my Santas like I did my witches! Not nearly enough room in any blog for all that!

Now if you have a very soft spot for pathetic animals, don't watch this next video...it's just tooooo saaaaadddd...whine...whine...whine. Sorry Eddy, no chocolate for you...I shouldn't have any either, but don't tell him!