Life as it happens with our three beautiful and adopted children, Shayla, Yamira and Manuel: Christmas has come and gone already

I don't want to go into detail after boring detail, so I will try to quickly highlights our last few days.

Christmas Day at 1:00 am I felt sick. I didn't feel better till around 7:00 am. I had a gallbladder attack. If you have ever had one, you know that it is absolutely brutal. You can't sit, stand, lay down or anything else for that matter. I kept walking around hoping it would help, but it didn't. Once I was asleep, I knew I had little time before Ping would want to be up opening presents. She did great. We didn't have til get up till 9:30 am.

Ping loved all of her items. Her favorite was her Swan Palace and some beads to make bracelets and necklaces out of. She got a Strawberry Shortcake video which she loves and won't stop playing. She got books and some other things. We gave her a pretty Princess framed print that Bill won at a silent auction. She loved it. I have to say that she was hysterical though. After she opened it up she said "This is a new photo for us." We both said "No honey, it's for you." She said "There is no room to put it." So cute. We told her we had a good spot for it. Then she asked if it would go in her bedroom. I told her it would go right outside her bedroom. She said that the print wasn't the same color as her bedroom, so it wouldn't match. Girl after my own heart!!!!!

After getting ready, we headed to Bill's mom's house. We visited for nearly an hour. Unfortunately, there was a lot of smoking going on in the house. His mom doesn't smoke, but other family members do. Needless to say, we didn't want to expose Ping to that or to smell it ourselves! We headed to Sarah and Brad's new place for 2:00 pm. Their place is beautiful. They have only been in it a few weeks and are still doing a lot of organizing, but they have done an amazing job already. They are living in a retail/residential place. The upstairs is living space. The downstairs is going to be their showroom and shoppe for Fancy That! I will show some pictures as soon as I am able to take some. We had a wonderful time there. I adore seeing her family. I have known them for years. I love sitting down and catching up with them all. Her sisters and niece all gave Ping, Bill and I gifts. They were so very thoughtful. I was so very touched.

After Sarah and Brad's we headed to Donna and Brad's house. We had a wonderful dinner there that Brad cooked and hung out and chatted for awhile. Brad is a great cook and I we got some great gifts. Ping got a sled and Elefun. She was so excited. I have pictures to share. We got home around 11 pm or so. I sat down to watch the news and passed out. I woke up around 7:00 am and went to bed. I was so tired from the night before, I just didn't even know or care that I was asleep in my chair! I slept in till about 2:00 pm. I was on and off awake, but I could not get up. Once showered, I proceeded to de-Christmas. We left the house to go to Walmart for a few things, but other than that, we concentrated on taking down all of the Christmas trees and other assorted decorations!!!! We were up till 3:00 am.

Needless to say that I slept in again on Sunday. I was in and out of sleep for hours. I was still exhausted. We spent the entire rest of the day taking down the rest of the Christmas items. I am so delighted that we are almost there. Just a few more things to do.

Ping and I did errands today. We went to the bank, the jeweler in town, the post office and Bed, Bath and Beyond. It was snowing and very slippery, but we did just fine. We spent the rest of the day at home. I ran out at 5:30 for a quick pedicure. I hadn't had one in months!

Today at the bank, Ping says to me "Come on idiot." I said "Excuse me Ping, what did you say?" She said "Come on idiot." I asked her where she got that word. She couldn't recall. I told her to never use it again, especially when talking to me!!!!! She didn't know that idiot was a bad word necessarily, she just knew that it all went together. She must have seen it on TV or something. It was so funny, yet at the same time I was pretty horified!!!!

I have a ton of photos and some videos to share, so I am going to go post them now and head to bed.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

Mama Out!!!!!!