Christmas is almost here!

I cannot believe that Christmas is 5 days away! That's just insanity to me. It's been quite the busy week around the Banning house...but what week isn't crazy around here? Kids Count Preschool got out for Christmas Break yesterday afternoon after a large "Happy Birthday Jesus!" Party. We watched a movie with all the kids in the Worship Center of the church on the big screen, then we ordered pizza for lunch and had birthday cake for Jesus...with candles and everything! My kids absolutely had a wonderful time. We made lots of homemade ornaments for their parents and talked over and over again about the greatest Christmas gift of all-JESUS! I was worried that my students wouldn't want to crash for a nap after all of the party madness, but they actually slept better than normal. :) Praise the Lord!

Stephen went shopping for Christmas gifts with his brother, dad, and brother in law last night. They left right after school and didn't return until after 10pm last night. After Paige woke up from her nap yesterday, she was running a 102 fever. I gave her Tylenol, but by bedtime it had actually gone up to 103! I gave her Motrin then and she went right to bed. When she woke up this morning, it spiked at 104...poor baby! She was shaking all over trying to get rid of the fever and didn't want me to let go of her. I wasn't planning on taking her to the doctor if her fever had stayed around 102, but I would have been a bad mother if I hadn't taken her with a 104 temp. Dr. P. said that it was just viral and to keep her very hydrated and keep Motrin in her system. I'm thankful that she doesn't have an infection somewhere, but in the same breath, it's very frustrating to hear the "it's just viral" answer.

Stephen's school is having snacks this week to celebrate Christmas/Christmas Break, so on top of taking care of my sick baby, I got up this morning and made mini-muffin omelets. The recipe is super easy and Stephen LOVES them. I think he got lots of requests for the recipe and the school secretary told him that he could have an entire box of red pens (he needed them to grade with!) since I could cook so well! I took that as a huge compliment.

I'm preparing today for our annual Banning Family Christmas dinner tomorrow night. I have Stephen's brother and his family, his sister and her family, and his parents over every year for ham and all the "fixings". This year I'm baking the ham, making hashbrown casserole, corn casserole, green beans with brown sugar and butter, black eyed peas, and puff pastry breadsticks. For dessert, I'm serving Christmas tree shaped sugar cookies, brownies, and banana nut bundt cake. Anyone hungry yet??? Please pray for my sanity!