The Results of the Holiday and the Ornament Swap

It has taken me far too long to get this linky post up for the Ornament Swap. (To see it, make sure to read this post to the bottom!) My apologies, but I have been a tad busy with the holiday, family time, and getting my husband on the road for a week of training out of state. Add all that on top of the regular Mommy business and, well, we all know how busy life can be. Hopefully you all have been as busy too and we will all be on the same page.

So, how was your Thanksgiving holiday?

I'll be honest...Thanksgiving 2010 was not one of my favorites.

We opted to leave Joe and his rotten work schedule at home and forged ahead to be with my family in our home town. After two years of Arizona-residency, I was relieved to see my winter driving skills were still intact. But driving at 35-50 miles per hour for 6 hours on dark, icy roads with three antsy kids in the back and one poking and prodding my ribs from within...not fun.

My heart was re-broken every time I talked to Joe on the phone and learned he was doing one of the following at different times in our absence: working, sitting at work with nothing to do, eating TV dinners, watching halves of cheesy Netflix movies, updating his Facebook status, eating at a local restaurant all by his lonesome, mopping the floor, staring out the window. Poor guy.

I was hoping to have some amazingly stellar fun times with my family to make up for the distance from my husband, but everyone was too tired, maybe a tad grouchy to do much but sit around and talk about the same old things.

The puking four year old daughter was the whipped cream on the pumpkin pie.

Definitely not my favorite Thanksgiving.

Yes, yes. Evelyn is whining AGAIN, but for the sake of all you glass-half-full-ers out there...

Of course I am grateful.

Grateful to have a such a good, hardworking husband.

Grateful to have a family to be with on the holidays.

Grateful to have children.

And particularly grateful when those children can the bucket (most of the time) with their pukey-pukiness.

Now, I am grateful to be back safely in my own home and praying this week passes quickly and uneventfully; Joe's only been gone for a total of 2 hours, but I sure miss the guy already.

End whining.

ORNAMENTS!!!

Did you get yours? I got mine! And oh my! I love it!

See, now I have this thing for stars...And although I am fairly certain I have never mentioned this on my blog, my partner tuned in.

Isn't it pretty? I love it! And I keep meaning to ask you, Aubrey: Is it handmade? No worries if it's not; I just want to give even more shining credit where credit is already well due.

I would direct you over to her blog to see what I sent her, but I have to admit...I am a little embarrassed for you to see what I sent her. She totally out-swapped me! Shame shame on me (aka: The Swap Hostess MINUS the Mostest)!

Not only did she send me a gorgeous ornament that was perfectly tuned into me, but it was also packaged in style.

And! AND!!!!

The girl reads my blog enough to know that right now my pregnancy palate leads me into Mexican territory and included not one, but TWO jars of locally made salsa in her ornament swap package. When I saw the salsa, my cheeks were burning red with shame and pleasure all at the same time. How thoughtful! And oh how I wish I could send her much more than the lousy little handmade ornament I did send.

What I am trying to say, so un-eloquently, is: THANK YOU Aubrey!! What a wonderful swap partner you are!

So, how did the rest of you fare???

Make sure to write up a post on your ornament including a picture and link up below.

Keep in mind...Sami and I are going to be picking a few favorites from all the ornament swap participants and sending a prize your way. Make sure to link up!

And keep an eye out for all the swappy sweetness to come over the next month. Last week, Sami and I matched up the partners for the second part of our holiday swap and I am already stalking and shopping for mine. I'm looking forward to getting to know you a little better, cbusch!

P.S. Look how fun this is! All the grandkids on my side in order of age on Thanksgiving 2010.


Even Baby #10 got in on the line-up.



Don't forget to link-up!