Christmas came and went again. All the weeks of planning and preparation and choosing just the right gifts came to their culmination yesterday in one great day of gift giving and receiving.

The day after Christmas is a bit of a let-down, I think. Sure there are still presents to play with and days off from school. Maybe some after-Christmas sales to hit. But nothing too exciting really. And maybe that's a good thing.

Have you mailed out Christmas cards yet? I ordered photo Christmas cards this year with a happy picture of our family from our summer vacation in the mountains. They are in a neat pile waiting to be mailed, but first I have to finish writing our Christmas letter.

Sweet Tea Grille, Located off I-95 in Port Wentworth Georgia is hosting Supper with Santa on December 18th , 2012 from 5PM until 8PM to benefit Toys for Tots. Santa will be at the event to take photos with children and to hear what they want for Christmas. Sweet Tea Grille will donate a percentage of their proceeds from this night to Toys for Tots and will also be collecting toys at the event to donate to the organization.

On Saturday evening my family and I went to the Savannah Harbor Festival of Lights (savannahharborfestivaloflights.com) on Hutchinson Island. We arrived at 6:30, waited in line for 20-30 minutes to pay our $20 admission fee (which includes a $5 food voucher), and were finished by 8:00. We chose to drive through, but there are also options to walk, ride a bike, or take a trolley ride or carriage ride through the lights also. Check the website for pricing.

If you come to my home this December, you will see that we decorated my Christmas tree with the assistance of my 6 year old daughter and 1 year old son. Our decorations are modified this year.

On Saturday our family made our traditional two-hour drive to Charleston to experience the James Island Holiday Festival of Lights (http://www.ccprc.com/index.aspx?NID=1546). It's a three-mile drive through Christmas light displays along with Santa's Village, which boasts a train ride, marshmallows for toasting, a holiday sand sculpture, Santa, carousel, and more.

Today I thought I would rearrange some furniture in my house. Nothing major – just a couple of ottomans. So I moved one ottoman in front of the sofa in the living room as a kind of casual take on a coffee table that doubles as extra seating. I wasn't entirely sold on the idea, but thought it would be good to give it a test run.

Have I mentioned how my youngest loves Rudolph (aka Red-Nosed Reindeer)? He really loves Rudolph. Well, as fate would have it, our neighbor two doors down has quite the Christmas lawn display including a big inflatable Rudolph.

So last night my 5-year-old son
informed me he wants out of our family. He wants to go live with
his favorite cousin.

One reason he wants to leave us is that his cousin gets everything he wants, which I know is
technically not true. However, that is my son's perception. This is
partly fueled by the fact that his cousin is three years older and
therefore his toys are inherently cooler. My son doesn't even know he
wants a certain toy until he sees his cousin has one and thinks it's
great.

I started singing Christmas carols around the house the other day, and my 2-year-old started yelling, 

“No! Stop singing!” The more I sang, the more he complained. It was enough to make me doubt my singing abilities!

My two other children have never complained about my singing, and they used to make special requests when they were younger. “Away in the Manger” was always a favorite.