{check}

1. Paint the house. {check}
2. Put the tree up. {check}

3. Go to Christmas Party wearing "ug" Christmas sweater. {check}

4. Pose for pictures in "ug" sweaters (or HO shirt). {check}

5. Snap a few fab pix of April. {check}

6. Take the youth to Temple Square in 9 degree weather. {check}

7. Make and deliver invitations to Erin's Birthday Party. {check}

8. Try to clear out some inventory by participating in a few boutique's. {check}

9. Deliver gifts to friends early enough that they can actually use them during the season. {check}

10. Cardboard up the sides of the gerbil cage so the babies don't try to crawl through the wire walls. {check}

....... and the list goes on......

Birthday shopping

Christmas shopping

Have a "friend" Birthday party for Erin

Have a "family" Birthday party for Erin and Jer (yup - he's havin' another one, too)

Take the kids to Temple Square

Read Christmas stories

Clean the house

Make divinity, toffee, pretzels, peppermint bark...

Attend the Ward Christmas dinner

Take Emma to other people's Ward Christmas Party's to dance

I seriously LOVE this time of year! It is crazy, but I love it. I love holding it over the kids all season: "Santa Claus is watching you!" Not that it helps, but it gives me something to threaten them with.

GERBIL UPDATE:

So these little monsters have been so much fun. They weren't exactly "cute" at birth, but look at them now. They have fur. They are cutting teeth and learning to walk. So entertaining. Their eye's still aren't open, but they are rubbing them a lot lately (which is supposed to be a sign that they will open soon). Lilly (mom) is quite the mother. She's been drinking a lot of water and running on her wheel so she looks amazing for giving birth to six babies just a few weeks ago. However, if she feels like being done with meal time, she just walks away and the babes end up strung throughout the cage because they stay latched on as long as possible. Zach is a great dad. He is always making sure their "nest" is fluffy and that they are warm. If Lilly walks away, he is right there doing a head count. We've named a few of them. There is only one girl: Molly. She looks exactly like her mama and she is such a bully. She doesn't put up with the boys. We have four boys (we lost one while in St. George so there's only five total now): Speedy, Snow Paw, three and four. We don't have names for the last two boys. Snow Paw is all black and has white on his two front paws - exactly like his dad. We will be looking for homes for the boys in the next couple of weeks. As you can see in the pictures, they are more than a handful. Jer has promised the kids that we can keep Molly - should be interesting to see how she does with Zach and Lilly once she get's to be their size.