White Christmas after all!

Today we received a white Christmas, three days late, but Christmas vacation none-the-less! We, or I should say, I, was outside clearing brush, as my kids had given up and were inside playing while my hubby (who worked so incredibly hard building this house) was on the golf course taking a break. A few flurries floated down, then full-fledged white fluffy flakes! It stuck and we have snow! Its gorgeous and W was especially excited as she ran out in full snow gear and started playing, building a mini snowman, and bombarding me (as I was continuing to clear brush) with snowballs!  :)   She loved it and so did I!
I love snow and I especially love snow during Christmas :) Its beautiful!
We have had a lovely Christmas. The girls are off school for 2 full weeks and since Dan always give his guys at the office  the week off between Christmas and New Years he was able to be away for 2 weeks as well. Therefore, we are spending our Christmas break on a true Christmas 2week vacation at our new house which was just finished a month ago! Its our first REAL vacation at our vacation house!  Its been lovely!!!! Not a day goes by that I don't pull Dan aside, give him a kiss, and tell him how much I love this place and how thankful I am for all he's done to make it happen! He really likes it too, especially since its surrounded by about 8 golf courses and he has been golfing almost every day since we've been here, including today, where he was snowed off the course!
The girls have had a great Christmas too. W got lots of toys and fun things, plus guitar lessons and an appointment for her hair to get permed (which she wanted only because her sister wanted one). However, since T was receiving so many 'big' gifts this year, she actually doesn't get to get HER perm until her bday. T probably had the best Christmas EVER. She will agree! She got lots of fun stuff as well, but her big gifts that she was super excited about were her ears getting pierced (she had been told she couldn't do that till her 12th bday, so it was a huge surprise to get them for Christmas!), plus the secret keeper girl 8 great dates book which she has wanted for a long time, as well as a curling iron, flat iron, and cute polka dot blowdryer. The golden egg though, was daddy giving her a "white iphone 4S with a turquoise otter box"   in her own words! She was and is VERY excited about this gift! So my girls had a great Christmas and we have been having a great vacation. Our house itself, and the granite and several other things on the inside that I went over-budget on and then claimed well "it will be my birthday and Christmas present this year" was definately our Christmas gift this year. But we also got each other some small things. I got Dan 10 giant bags of Sweet Daddy Popcorn (locally made by parents at my daughter's school) which he loves, as well as a new electric shaver and a heartmonitor for the gym. However, I researched it and was SURE it also tracked calories and it turns out it doesn't. I got it for 'free' though with my LT bucks at my gym, so I will have to see if and how I can return it :(  He got me a $250 gift certificate to a spa (I will be in heaven the day I go there and spend several hours getting 'relaxified'). He also got me some little gifts like perfume and an 80's cd, but the funniest gift of all was a giant package with the words "To: THE WHINER" scrawled in black marker across the front of it. The history of this was that when we picked out the mattresses for our new house I completely gave him final authority on picking out our mattress. I liked the new foam mattresses that were so soft and luxurious. He however, likes a very firm bed. We therefore ended up with the hardest bed imaginable! It feels like sleeping on a rock. Even when you sit on the edge of it there is no 'give or cushion', its just flat, hard, umph!  So in this package was a ...... mattress pad to make the bed a little softer. Unfortunatley, it didn't help much :( Its still the hardest bed in the world and I've whined about it every night that I've slept on it. He loves it though and said ever since he's been sleeping on it he's had the best sleep of his life. Which must be true, because for my husband who normally wakes up every day at 4:15am and consequently 'sleeping in' for him is sleeping till 6am, he has been able to sleep till past 8am while here!!!!!!!! crazy! I guess its helping one of us relax, but its not me. (I'll have to get that at the spa I guess lol).
Anyway, regardless of what we have 'gotten' we have enjoyed our time here and are more happy with being able to give to not only our family but also to others. To me, that makes it for me, being able to help others. In fact, I told Dan repeatedly that I didn't need anything for Christmas, gifts at Christmas aren't that important to me. I prefer to give, it makes me really happy. I kept telling Dan this, but he kept asking me what I wanted, so I gave him a few last minute ideas and Dan being Dan, he got me every idea I gave him (he really is my one true love!)  ;)
The girls were so sweet this year, they both shopped (very early) with their own money for gifts for us and their grandparents. They got us sweet, thoughtful things like a handpainted picture frame with their photos in them for G&G, plus a coupon holder, fall platter, fall hotpads, and cleaning pads for me (I told W these cleaning pads weren't really a GIFT unless SHE did the cleaning!). For Dan they got him ipad cases, Newsboys CD, and certs. Plus treats for the dog and cat :)  T even bought W a gumball machine and W got T hairties and a compact mirror.  Very sweet.  Speaking of certs, Dan actually filled my stocking this year (I have been complaining for a couple years that its not right that I fill my own stocking, so he actually did it full-fledged this year!) He included a bottle of Tums in it with a stocking full of snacks...very appropriate!  lol That's my funny husband for ya!  ;}
So from our family to yours...
Merry Christmas!!!!! Enjoy this great time with your family and best wishes for the new year!