Happy Christmas To All....

Ok, I will admit something...the past 6 or 7 posts have all been scheduled posts that I wrote over a week ago. This one is no exception, but I figured this season gets busy and I didn't want to forget to post (and no one can blame me fore not posting enough this way!). Today is Christmas Eve, and even though I write this on Dec. 15th, I know what I'm like on Christmas and I can't WAIT to get the party started...

Christmas Eve is at my parents place as always and our tradition is to have nothing but appetizers (I think there's like 15-25 of them!). When I was young it was aps. and soup, but that got phased out because there were just too many leftovers! Part of the reason I blog early is because today will be a busy one of making bacon wraps, pizza bubble and Josh's silly mini-weiners...Each of us kids is responsible for bringing something, so I'm prepping stuff...Then there's Dad's famous chicken wings(probably the only appetizer that hasn't come and gone and come back again over the years), Katie is probably bringing her spinach bread that I love and Meg promises to do something Rachel Ray style...and my mom is super creative with presentation and changes her long list of contributions a little bit every year. And the Cooley cousin side of the fam brings stuff too, so you see, there's no need for Turkey or Ham or Prime Rib, there's no room!!

I'm also anxiously waiting for Riley to hurry up and take her nap and wake up so we can get to my parents house early like I always do:) I have always accepted the "baby of the family" role (I'm 20 minutes younger than Meg, but it counts!), along with my cousin Kerry who truly is the baby of her family, and it's normally Bear and I who start asking when it's time to open presents. If we get to Mom and Dad's early enough and all the appetizers are prepped and ready to go, we get to open one gift before the company gets there...YEAH!!!! and since the kids are here now, sometimes we open even more before people come so we don't have to stay until midnight to finish!

Tomorrow, we will go to Church where the choir will end with "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and we will rock to the contemporary jazzy beat...or as the kids say...get down! Then off to Schusters for dinner...Not sure what we're having there yet, Linda usually makes a few options and Riley will probably come home with lots of noisy toys:) And I'm not sure if nap time will happen either...gonna have to play it by ear, but Riley doesn't sleep at Grandma's house...it's almost a rule! I'll post more on Christmas Day later in the week with pictures!

Anyway, this is long and rambling, but Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good night!