Ready or Not, Christmas is Here!

Christmas is coming sooner than I will be ready at our house! We are celebrating Christmas on Saturday, the 20th. It is so hard to make the rounds and see everyone in such a short amount of time that we have decided to celebrate early. I am really excited that all of our family will be together for the weekend. (We will be meeting puppy Carley for the first time as she makes her first visit to our house!) And, we will have the whole weekend to hang out and chill! Fun!

Last year, Haley and Austin came home. We opened presents. We packed the car and left for Blairsville. It was just way too rushed. And, though we love our time in Blairsville, it seems that we have been cheated out of our own family time at home. So, this year, we are trying the "early Christmas" thing. I think we will all like this better. It will be special time at our house just for us. But, the problem with celebrating early is that I have to be ready early! So, I am frantically trying to finish shopping, wrapping, cleaning, decorating, etc. for the "early event!" Ready or not, here it comes! : )

Haley and Hannah are finished with their classes! Yippee! I am so relieved that another semester is over. I know Haley is busy in Byron getting ready for Christmas. It is so nice to talk to her without the subject of school coming up. I know she is loving it! She had forgotten what it felt like to be free!

Hannah has been so busy with her volunteer work that we barely saw her for days after she finished classes. She has been wrapping gifts outside of WalMart in the freezing cold, staying up all night serving pancakes to students at UGA while they studied for exams, gathering gifts for a needy child, and cooking and serving meals to the homeless in downtown Atlanta. This kid never stops. And, once she finally found some free time, she started wrapping my gifts and helping me with things at home! It is so nice to have her home. I miss Haley being home on a regular basis, but I know she has her own life to attend to. Obviously, this just makes her visits even more special!

Hadrian starts final exams tomorrow through Friday. She is ready to be done with school, but she is really excited about the idea of "early Christmas!" I think her friends are a bit envious that she gets to open her gifts a few days early. What a wonderful reward for getting through those final exams!

I have to mention some wonderful news that we received about Hadrian. She made it to the next round - the state level of competition for the Governors Honors Program. Wow! The competition is so strong in Gwinnett County that we are amazed that she advanced out of the regional level. The Governors Honors Coordinator at Grayson High School spoke to Hadrian today and told her that the judges were extremely impressed. Double Wow! So, on to state competition we go! We will keep you posted, but either way it goes, it is an amazing accomplishment for our baby girl.

Well, considering all I have to get done in a short amount of time, I better quit blogging and start "doing!"