CLEVER WAYS TO GIVE MONEY AT CHRISTMAS

Just finished up Christmas today. Had a long month of it at work- which is to be expected- and part of the job. We had Christmas with Husband's kids the day after Christmas and got together with my kids today. We were all supposed to have gone to KC to be with youngest son , but you all know about the "best laid plans of mice and men"...right? Anyway- it was such fun to give the grands their gifts this year, because Husband and I didn't just give them money in a card- we cleverly wrapped the money differently for each person- and they had a blast figuring it out! For one, we gently opened the bottom of a box of mac and cheese and then took out the cheese packet, carefully cut the bottom of it open and shook out the cheese- then wrapped the money in foil and slipped it into the cheese packet and glued the packet shut. We then glued the bottom of the box- and it was really fun to see oldest grandson's (16) face when he got a box of mac and cheese for Christmas! For one of the grand daughters we rolled 25 brand new 1 dollar bills up in a roll of toilet paper- and for youngest grandson we made a slit under the label of a 2 liter bottle of coke and slipped two large containers with money inside the two liter bottle. We then glued the label back and put the lid on and he was baffled for a couple of minutes about how we got those containers into the pop bottle! The best one - in my estimation-however, was Husband's very own clever idea! We bought a bag of tootsie rolls and unwrapped them, then rolled 25 1 dollar bills very small and rewrapped them in the tootsie roll papers. They looked REAL! Youngest grand daughter was crazy about it! It made a mundane Christmas gift very special- and we all watched as each person opened his/her gift- none of this frenzied-tear the paper-hurry to the next present-stuff. Daughter was a sweet hostess and had a couple of games for us to play, as well- and we ate far too much- as always. Hope you all had wonderful holidays with your families!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE!

Well, it has certainly been a day or two since I have posted! We had the big Gala at work on last Friday night and outside of being a chinese firedrill when the food was put out on the buffet tables, it went pretty well. Have got to work on a better "flow" for the crowds that we have come to expect at this event. I talked with the dietary manager on Sunday at our employee Christmas party and we think we have it worked out for next year- goodie. Tomorrow I will work with three activity directors from a neighboring state who will be at my building for some training, networking and brainstorming. Looking forward to that. Husband and I were off today to recoop from the past couple of weeks of getting our building decorated and preparing for the Gala.

We took a bottle of that almond wine I've been talking about on here- to the party- it was like a liquer (is that how you spell lik-koor?). It has aged into a mighty fine sipping drink. Smooth! Just took over two years to get it to that point! While I've been off today I made pumpkin bread and a wonderful beef stew to share with my neighbors. I have three and they are all elderly and ill or alone. Have not been paying them the kind of attention I should for a little while-so am fixing that this afternoon. Bought two new recliners over the weekend. Husband's is h-u-g-e! And I got one for me that just fits me pretty nicely! It is beautiful, too. Merry Christmas to us.