Christmas List 2010

Christmas draws nigh and I'm sure many people are already finished with their Christmas Shopping. I'm one of those people that tends to put it off until December every year, and usually the back-half of the month.

 

This year, I've done more shopping online than in previous years. I scored a free Prime membership to Amazon, so shipping is free on just about anything I buy that Amazon ships (though not from their resellers). I'm just about finished buying for my wife - I could stop now and call it good, but I might try to pick up one or two more things for her - though I don't know what those would be just yet.

 

She and I are close to being finished shopping for our kids. We're completely finished shopping for our youngest daughter - deals for her gifts just seemed to fall into our laps this year and when we stopped to take stock of what we'd bought, we were surprised by how much stuff we had already bought... now we have to catch up on the other two kids. We do have some stuff for each of them, but we're not finished.

 

We also need to buy stuff for her parents, and maybe something else for my parents. We bought a little something for my parents, but I think I'd like to add to it.

 

As for myself, I had a mix of fun stuff and home-improvement stuff on my own gift list, in addition to all the cool stuff on my Amazon wish list. Some of the stuff on my list includes:

 

• A kindle or other ebook reader.
• Two ceiling fans for my house (to replace aging ones).
• Two storm doors for my house (to replace aging or missing ones).
• A tool chest of drawers and cabinets.
• Geeky T-shirts, including anything Firefly/Serenity.
• USB to HDMI adapter
• Wireless laptop mouse
• Saw horses.
• A 13’ extension ladder (or thereabouts)

Those are some of things I've asked for this year. And hey, if you want to help me out... ;-)

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

 

Christmas List 2010

The Obligatory Thankfulness Post

I am thankful for so much; God has blessed me in so many ways I could write a book of thankfullness. Instead, I'll summarize some of the high points.

I'm thankful for my bride Rubi, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish for all eternity.

I'm thankful for our kids Lizzy, Alex, and Catherine: three very different but equally loveable, smart, and just plain cool.

I'm thankful for our families, hers and mine. We both have great parents and extended families and they are a true blessing to us both.

I'm thankful for my job, stressful as it is. At least I'm employed and have some semblance of job security - not everyone can say that.

I could go on and on, but I'll end with this quote that one of my bosses emailed the staff yesterday:

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
-Melody Beattie

Enjoy the tryptophan coma!

The Obligatory Thankfulness Post

Hi

We're still alive. Just been busy with life and all. (I'm at work on a 12-hour overnight shift, hence the blogging to stay awake.)

Rubi started a new job a few weeks ago. She likes the job, says it's like getting to play dress up with dolls - only using real people wanting to buy wedding and prom gowns.

Most of us here at TheBayerFamily caught colds recently and are either recovering from or still suffering it. Alexander lucked out and hasn't really caught anything more than the sniffles.

This weekend we're celebrating Catherine's birthday.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!! I can't believe Turkey Day is next week. And I actually have that day off! Hopefully I'll be having some turkey salad sandwiches for lunch for a few days after Thanksgiving.

A little over a week after that, we're taking a family vacation! I'm trying to decide if it's possible to have the kids do school work in the van during the drive to Florida and back - or rather, if it's conceivable they will actually be able to do the work while traveling.

Next blogging goal: make a post before Christmas!!

Happy New Year!

Hi

New Years Meme

This New Year:

1) Big Party or stay at home alone? Work 12 hours overnight, from 7pm-7am, and back to work 8 hours later.

2) Stay up to watch the ball drop? It might be on the TV at work, but I'm sure I'll be taking calls of drunk drivers and gunshots rather than watching the ball drop.

3) Will you make any resolutions? Nope. Never have, never will.

4) Is Dick Clark a good host for New Year's Eve? Sure, why not. He's like a tradition. And definitely better than Regis and Plastic Ripa or Ryan Seacrest .

5) Do you know the words to Auld Lang Syne? Does anyone? (without Googling it)

How about you?

New Years Meme

Christmas Recap

Many other bloggers are posting what gifts they got for Christmas, a few are also posting gifts they gave. I guess I'll give it a go too.

My sister-in-law is a big Mt. Dew drinker - she lives on the stuff 24/7. Awhile back I had myself a 20oz Mt. Dew and the cap had Buy One Get One free inside it. I saved that cap for her and included it with the rest of her gift. She loved it.

My father-in-law bought a DVD-camcorder late last year and gave me all the DVDs he’s taken so far (each less than 20 minutes). I ripped them all and made them into a single DVD for his viewing, and made a copy for my parents too since they don’t get to spend as much time with my kids as my in-laws do. Those DVDs were part of their gifts.

Earlier this year, my co-workers all submitted recipes to me and I compiled them into a small recipe book for everyone I work with. I gave copies of this recipe book to some of my family members as part of their gifts.

I filled out a survey for a work-related magazine earlier this year and recieved a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate for doing so. I used the gift certificate to order three books for Rubi, ostensibly for Christmas gifts, but we agreed not to exchange gifts this year (we bought ourselves a digital camera on Black Friday - that was our Christmas Gift to each other) - so she got the books a couple of weeks before Christmas.

At church, my kids get “Bible bucks” for memorizing their Bible verse, bringing their Bible with them to church, being there, brining a friend, and so forth. The kids get to spend these bucks on things like pencils, small Christian themed toys, larger items like Bibles and Bible covers, etc. My oldest daughter saved hers up and bought my wife one of those little blue and white plastic snow globes with a snow man scene inside for her Christmas gift.

At our small group a few weeks ago, I noticed that our hosts had several ornaments on their tree their kids had made out of CDs (like AOL CDs) and thought they were really neat. My oldest daughter made me one in her art class and gave it to me for Christmas.

And… my in-laws gave Rubi and I a new dishwasher, among other great gifts, and my father-in-law helped me install it yesterday! Our old dishwasher quit working probably over a year ago and I've been hand-washing them since. This will definitely free up some time during my day!

That's not the complete giving and receiving list - just some of the highlights.

I had to work 3rd shift Christmas Eve and Christmas, I went in a couple of hours on Christmas Eve so the supervisor working (my regular) 2nd shift could get to her grandkids house and help wrap gifts. On Christmas morning, my relief came in 30 minutes early so I could get home and spend Christmas morning with my kids. Aparently, my kids got up around 3:30am and pretty much stayed up waiting for me for three and half hours!
After about 20 minutes with my family on Christmas morning that included me reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 and the family singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, I went to bed. Rubi and the the kids got cleanup and went to her parents house for the day. A few hours later, I got up around noon and joined them about an hour after. We spent most of the day snacking on delicious food Rubi's mom had prepared, until Rubi's sister and that sister's boyfriend arrived. Then we did the presents. Around 5 we had dinner, then sat around watching the kids play with all their new toys.
We got home around 8:30 that night, and I went in to work around 11 and then had to double back and work 2nd shift on the 26th.

Yesterday, my first day off, we got our dishwasher installed and ran a few errands. Today, my second day off, we'll probably run a few errands but that will be it and I won't be doing much of anything constructive (as witnessed by this post).

Back to work tomorrow, for a week that includes more crazy scheduling over New Years. It can't be helped though - I work in a 24/7 environment where someone has to be there, otherwise people could die.

Happy Holidays (post-Christmas, pre-New Years)!

Christmas Recap

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all.

And Happy Birthday to Jesus!


I'm at work now (yes, it's just after 1 am here). When I get home around 7 am I'll do my "family Christmas" with Rubi and the kiddos. I'll try to remember to read Luke 2, and maybe sing Happy Birthday to Jesus (we've done that in years past). Reading Luke 2 at the start of our family time is a tradition I like to try to keep.

After the kids open their gifts, I'm off to bed for a few hours. Then I'll get up around lunch time and meet Rubi and the kids at her parents house for the extended family Christmas.

Then back to work tonight again on third shift.

Merry Christmas