Let me tell you about the dream I had the other night. (You have to realize that this was after my self-esteem had been crushed by BS regarding the whole "iPod download - this is how it works - stop asking me questions - just listen - let me explain" rants.) We were at tkd testing. Camron didn't have his uniform on. When I asked him why, he told me that it was too big and kept falling off and that he was going to do make-up testing. I practiced out on the floor. There were a gazillion people there that were going to test and barely any of them had uniforms on and I couldn't understand why. Mike C. was there - in a suit that was ripped at both shoulder seams. He said he knew he shouldn't have been wearing a suit when he practiced his form. They called me out on the floor and then they called Shawn. I was confused as to why we weren't in order. I couldn't find Painter Jeff. Sherri Carter kept putting her arm around me and telling me it would be okay. There were so many people on the floor that we could barely move to do our forms. One of the judges (just some random dream character) was really mean and he and "Yes Sir" were having some sort of verbal disagreement and he told her she couldn't test. When it came time to do my form, I kept screwing up the last move (if anyone remembers, the knee strike was the move that I screwed up 2 times the last time we did blue belt form at testing which made me end up facing the wrong direction at the end.) I asked to do it again even though I knew everyone would be mad (this was probably from CTP's threats last testing that no one had better ask to do their form again.) As I was doing my form, I had my class attendance card in my hand and knew the judges wouldn't be able to see that I was doing a knifehand because I was holding the card. Also, my gum was disintegrating and I couldn't get it all out of my mouth. Anyone care to analyze????????

Ah, here it is - the Christmas morning picture. Before one present gets opened, before one stocking gets peeked into, the cherubs know they have to sit down in front of the tree and smile. We tried to convince them that we had instituted a new tradition this year and that they each had to sing a Christmas carol before coming down the steps - they weren't going for it.

Big Sexy bought me 500 Best Western shower caps off of eBay. That was pretty hilarious. He used to travel all the time at his old job and would always bring me back his shower caps (sometimes I'd get Phil's and Brandon's too - when they all traveled together). Since he started his new job, he hasn't traveled and my stash of shower caps died out long ago. I've been getting the 3 pack from Wal-Mart, but really, who wants to spend money, no matter how small the amount, on shower caps? I use 'em until, apparently, Dave thinks they're really grody. Anyway, I'm set for awhile now....

He also bought me an iPod. I think he's regretting it because I'm as dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to all things electronic. I'm driving him crazy..... Unfortunately, or fortunately - depending on how you look at it, I haven't been able to use it yet because I guess I have freakishly small ears and the dang ear buds won't stay in!

The other "princess" of the family had requested a "wedding dress" for Christmas. I found this little number on eBay for a STEAL! When she opened the box and lifted off the tissue paper she said, "My wedding dress..." and then hugged it to her. The four red roses were the icing on the cake - if she ever had a doubt in her mind before (which I'm sure she didn't), now she knows I'm the bomb! She also thinks Lori's the bomb - she brings Savannah gum :)

Here we have the boys opening their gift from Meem & Beeb. Nothing quite says the birth of Jesus like a deadly weapon! They were completely surprised and had absolutely NO idea they were getting a rifle. Needless to say, today we were down on the farm massacring dinosaur targets and water bottles. We had a great time!

Instead of our usual "trading of names for the grown-ups" - this year we all went out and got a bunch of grab bag gifts and played the number game. We were stealing each others' gifts and Ryan and Steve got into it over a tin of popcorn. Also, nothing says the birth of Jesus like stealing gifts from your family members..... One of Camron's gifts was safety goggles. Here's Ry modeling them for us:

Here's Lori and one of HER grab bag gifts:

Here's Buck with his Christmas vulture:

And here, we have the three brave souls who married into my family. God bless 'em. Check out all of their hats...... Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen Jesse without a hat on..... hmmmm, interesting.

We finished out the evening with a nice family game of "Spoons" around the dining room table. No blood was shed, though there were some minor skirmishes. As Lori so wisely stated, "If you get in a battle over a spoon, you want to make sure you have the fat end." And that, my friends, is advice that we can all use!

5 Random Thoughts

1. SC had such a look of disgust on her face while watching A.M. "jab and punch" the other night at tkd that I had to stop looking at her in the mirror before I busted out laughing. (And, yes, I know that "busted" is not proper English.)

2. I need to find "4 red roses" to go with Savannah's "wedding" ensemble that she requested for Christmas. They were $4 each at Michael's - not happening. I guess I'll be running out to World of Values tomorrow.... unless one of you happens to have 4 red roses lying around.

3. It's FREAKING cold outside.

4. Dave and I watched "While You Were Sleeping" the other night. Every year, around Christmas/New Year's, we watch this movie. It's one of my favorites.

5. I cheated on you all last night. I'm sorry. BS and I had dinner at Robokyo with Phil and Brandon. These three have worked together in some way for the past 15 years or so and every year we go out for a Christmas celebration. The past two years we've gone downtown to Ruth's Chris - I think we'll have to go back to that next year :) Here's a picture of the 3 of them at Red Star (where we went for dessert.)

Phil - Dave - Brandon

Notice that they all share the same hairstyle - they were a little close to the hibachi when the giant flame shot up. Does anyone care to venture a guess as to why Phil and Dave were carefully checked by security right after 9/11???

A great time was had by all at the Gorr's Christmas party on Saturday night. Just look at all of the happy faces!

There was even entertainment........ beyond the deep, meaningful conversations that usually take place at these gatherings.

Here's the picture that goes with the discussion of Leslie's shirt buttons. Kim and I seem very engrossed with Leslie's chest buttons. Wait, that's not right either. I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.

Kim's fancy livingroom was very happy to have some people visiting in it. The "softball people" were in with the Burger Meister ornament tree, but WE got to hang out with baby Jesus and the scary moving Santa!!!!! We also got to see where Kim keeps her wrapping paper. (Sorry, Kim, Dave made me post it.....)

And, finally, some video of those deep conversations that were mentioned earlier.... Here's Shawn confessing that he's not usually in on the "grown-up" conversations:

And here is the "Carter" discussion along with BS trying to make Curt's "Grrrrr" noise:

A couple of nights ago, the cherubs decided that it would be a good idea to put up the Christmas tree. The muscle of the Bartholomew clan dug the tree box out from under the basement stairs and lugged it up to the living room. The trusty directions were pulled out of the proper file folder and...... the boys did all of the work! They separated the branches by tip color and put them all in place. There wasn't even a squabble. I'm sure Santa is so proud and is putting their names on the "Nice" list. Later that evening, BS put the lights on the tree. That's his Christmas decorating contribution. That all occurred on Saturday. We finally got around to decorating the tree this evening. Dave and I carried the boxes upstairs, and again, the boys did all of the work while we took pictures.

Camron unwrapped all of his past Christmas creations and set them up on the coffee table. He set up the Nativity scene.... I wonder if I could talk one of the boys into hanging all of the garland around the windows and up the stairs????? I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be doing that this year - bah humbug! (Please don't hate me Christmas Queen Kim :)

In other news, my boys have booked their first child-sitting job (no children will be sat on during the course of the evening....I hope....) I had never even considered that that would be something they could do; after all, they are MY babies. I am very honored that ES and SB believe that my boys are capable of looking after their boys. Ryan's only concerns when I presented him with this proposition were: "Will there be pizza?" and "Can everyone go to the bathroom by themselves?" I have assured him that since Jimmy will be with Wendi, everyone left at the house will be capable of handling their own bathroom situations......

Happy 14th Birthday, Ryan!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jimmy earned a new patch for his Eaglescout uniform today. He successfully completed all of the requirements needed to obtain the "Delivering Crutches to the Gimpy and Infirm" patch. I'm so very proud of Jimmy! Seriously though, you're a gem ES - thanks a ton for dropping those off for me :) And thank Emma for me too, would ya? BS bought me these way awesome boots this past weekend. He said that they're not even for Christmas or anything! I'll consider them my teacher salary for the past 4 months. Aren't they cute?

Instead of those very cute boots, however, I'm wearing this sexy number......

Don't be jealous now. After I'm done with it, I'll share it if anyone wants to use it. I kept it on all night last night during tkd so that no one would run off with it. I can see where one might be tempted.............

Hey, ES, what did you find out about the whole testing/board holder situation???? Any news????