weekend o' fun

What a fun weekend.

To start off, our house had our annual white elephant gift exchange par-tay. You never know what you'll end up with at these things. In previous years, I've received a bag of cement, an old nasty chair, "Masters of the Universe" (a live action He-Man movie) on DVD, an N'Sync calendar, and more.

This year I ended up with old-school records that teach multiplication tables. What a great gift! If I was a 4th grade teacher. In the 1970's.


But I was more excited about the gift I gave this year. I was at Goodwill and heard someone/something singing "Living La Vida Loca". It turned out to be a Santa on a reindeer stuffed animal. When you press his hand, the Santa sways from side to side during "Upside, inside out" and then the reindeer turns to you and sings "Living La Vida Loca!!". They sing the whole chorus together and then stop. It was both horrible and amazing. Our friend Colin got it. He was less than pleased.


The best gift of the night was actually a re-gift from last year. It's a painting of a Tootsie-looking woman wearing a Star of David necklace. Her eye holes are cut out which makes her freaky-looking. When our friend Holly opened it, she burst out laughing. Someone grabbed it and put it on our mantle with white lights coming through the eye holes.


And THEN Holly's husband Andrew opened a gift and it was a picture of Brad Pitt from Legends of the Fall. He went on the mantle as well - slyly looking at the creepy Jewish Tootsie. So wonderful.


Saturday I drove to my older sister's house to spend some time with her and my two nephews. Judah is 3 and we had a great time playing together. Samuel is 6 months old and so cute, I want to die.


From there I drove to see my sister Liz in her winter musical "13 Days of Christmas". She played Bernie, a truck drivin' tomboy with a crush on the town mechanic. She stole the show. I'm not just saying that because she's my sister. She legitimately was the best singer, dancer, and actress. She KILLED her solo. I always love seeing her perform on stage.

Today (Sunday) I went to my church's Christmas concerts. Every year our church puts on these amazing concerts that people come see from all over the county. They do 10 concerts in 4 days. And they are a-may-zing! I went to the 11 a.m. concert with my college students and the 5:30 pm concert with my aunt, uncle, and cousin who drove into town to see it.


What a wonderful weekend. I am feeling very thankful and blessed tonight.