9 days left til Christmas!

I still have 10 tote bags to make (the embroidery machine is going as I type!). I have the fabric cut out for some, will cut the rest later. I think if I prep as much as I can, it shouldn't be too stressful. Though, I need to have 3 of them finished by Thursday. I also cut the fabric for jammie pants for our hliday tradition. They go together fairly easily, so that shouldn't be too stressful.

We still have to figure out what to get my dad for Christmas. I just don't know. He is a Yankees fan, but that seems to be our last resort theme for birthdays/Christmas. Not enough time to do a photobook (which I wanted to do for his birthday, so I can make it really nice) He has a digital camera and nice printer, so a little portable photo printer is out. We've done a fun snack basket before. He doesn't do chocolate. He has a Playstation that we (my sister and us) got him a few years ago. I don't know how often he does that anymore. He is colorblind, so that lets out fun little games....it is stressful. I want to do something he will like, but just have no idea.

This Saturday is the last of our gift wrapping fundraising dates. At the first PTO meeting I attended, they talked about various fundraisers, and also mentioned that the library just needs help. There are books that are so old, pages fall out when they are opened. Numerous shelves are empty. Well, when I heard that, I started thinking. Childrens books are my 'thing'. I just love them. Books have always been a big part of my life, my mom was an elementary school librarian. So I feel very connected to libraries.

I came up with the idea of contacting Borders bookstore in our area to see about charity giftwrapping. The manager at the store closest to us gave me a complete brushoff. So, I called the store in a city about 10 minutes away. The coordinator at that store was super friendly, and set us up with 3 dates! Borders supplies the wrapping paper, table, tape, and scissors, we just need to bring bows, tags and donation buckets, and we keep anything we raise.

Our first date was the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It wasn't too busy, as far as wrapping goes, we did maybe 7 things. We still collected $170! Not bad for 5 hours of mostly people watching. We had our 2nd date last Saturday, and we were much busier wrapping, and collected $282! I think that is fantastic. One more day to go. I am hoping that we can do $300-350. Wouldn't that be great? This is free money for the library.....I am so excited.

The kids are super excited about Santa coming. Santa needs to have his elves start wrapping things. I am excited to see their reactions this year.

Nate is adjusting to 'no more drinks' happening soon. There have been some nights when he has fallen asleep on the couch, and doesn't do any. He is also sleeping through the night now with more regularity, and if he does wake, he usually will settle himself back to sleep. (Those first few nights of no more middle of the night drinks were hard....) He also talks about when he will need to stop altogether.

Yay, the first bag embroidery is done....9 to go!