Chaos, goose bumps & a lump in the throat
This is the craziest Christmas season we've had yet. Busy, busy, busy. Go, go, go. It will be nice when it's over & we can just kick back & relax, but I have to admit, I like the chaos right now.

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity as I was getting the family ready for two separate Christmas parties. Bill & I were going to his company party & Logan was going to the annual Club Christmas party with photographer friend & her daughter. All day long I dragged Logan around town looking for an outfit that I could wear later that night (this part I really hated. I hate finding new clothes right now) & I got a shirt for Bill too. We came home so Logan could get a nap in & I realized that I had purchased the wrong size shirt.

When Logan woke up from his nap, we went to the allergist for more skin testing (beef, chicken, turkey, all berries & gelatin), all came back negative except beef is just an "irritant". Logan is still breaking out in hives regularly & the allergist has no idea what's going on. It's all very inconsistent. At Logan's 2 year check-up with his pediatrician, we'll have to talk about blood work & take a look at autoimmune issues (great).

After the appointment, I exchanged the shirt, came home & got everything ready for Logan & dropped him off at photographer friends house. Running about 15-20 minutes behind, I picked up Bill from work, dropped him off at home & headed to the salon to get my bangs trimmed. I came home, got dressed & we were off to the party. Whew!

The company party was a lot of fun. It was nice to meet all of Bill's co-workers & put names to faces. There was a lot to drink & a ton of delicious catered food. It was hosted at the CEO's home, which was enormous & beautiful. We got to go on the grand tour & watched a scene of a movie in their new home theater. There were awards & drunk speeches & lots of laughing. It was great. 2 hours later than we planned on leaving, we finally picked Logan up around 10pm.

He was still up watching Cars with his friend in his pajamas. They had a good time together playing the "sneezy game" in the car (she would pretend sneeze, he would laugh & this went on for the whole drive) & he had fun without us at The Club party. One mom was sure to make egg-free cookies for Logan at the party & made enough for him to bring some home (although he only ate raisins & marshmallows), along with a hot chocolate craft he made & a book from the kids' book exchange. Apparently, he also understood that photographer friend was taking care of him & stuck by her side following her around the party. He would go off & play for a bit & then come back to "check-in" with her. Too funny.

This morning Logan & I got up to go to one of his playgroup friends birthday party. We had a good time & Logan loved all of his friends new toys. It makes me nervous to think ahead for Logan's 2nd birthday (which I still have no idea what were going to do). We came home for his nap, I mailed out most of our Christmas cards (finally) & when Logan woke up, we went out Christmas shopping.

Christmas shopping was so fun!! We went through the toy isle picking out various car toys, SpongeBob paraphernalia & action figures. Along with a few toys for the cousins, the cart was full to the brim with Christmas goodies. I looked at the cart & got goose bumps & a lump in the throat. This Christmas is going to be so much better than our bah-humbug flu Christmas that was last year. Not only that, Bill is doing so well at work, we actually have a pretty reasonable budget for presents (granted, we're not buying anything for each other). I felt so thankful & so happy that we'll have a great time this year.

We took a break from shopping & went out for dinner, then headed out to get a few more things for Logan. On the way to another toy store, Bill talked about Christmas Eve with his family. It was my impression that we were going to take all of our presents over to Aunt Ju-Ju's house to open with them & then come home & get Logan to bed. I would wake up early Christmas morning to have "our" Christmas, making a gourmet Christmas breakfast & open stocking & Santa presents in our new Christmas pajamas. I was fine with that because we had a part of the holiday that was just for us.

But. No. Bill openly suggested that we just take a few of Logan's presents over to open with the family & leave the majority of them for us (cue the happy tears). Trying not to be ecstatic about it, I just shrugged & said "sure", but inside I was thrilled that we would be able to spend most of the holidays as our own family. We will still spend time with Bill's family on Christmas Eve, so no one is getting left out, but we will spend the majority of the "special" moments with the three of us together. There are so many words to describe how I feel, but to put it simply...happy.