Christmas

Well, as you can imagine, things have been a little bit crazy in the McCann household lately! My parents are here (yippee!!) and they have brought along Gillie! Beau (my brother) was here for Christmas eve too! We have 9 people and 6 dogs in this 1152 sq feet house! Reminds me of that beautiful song "Little houses" by Doug Stone. It has a line that says "love grows best in houses just like this". It makes me love my home even more. Anyhoo, this Christmas has been a bit stressful-it seems like almost every present that he kids got from "Santa" is not working properly! Things have settled down a little bit today-so I hope that we can at least "maintain" today!

Ok, now that I sound like the "Grinch"!......the kids did have a good Christmas! My parents bought us a Disney vacation package and I am SO excited! Brooke went to Disney when she was 2 years old, but the other kids have never been! Our package includes-2 days at Disney, 3 nights at a Disney resort, 2 meals and 2 snacks each day and a refillable mug for each person! We are going to go in February-this will be our very first family vacation!

Brett and I did not spend much money on each of the kids...as we are DETERMINED to pay off our last credit card next month! But I was so proud of each of the kids because they showed such appreciation for what the got! They have not stopped thanking us for the "best Christmas ever"! Brooke got some boots, make up, watch, hair dryer..... Maddie got a watch, clothes for her dog, rings from Claires (when she opened them she held up here hand and said "he went to Jareds"...and had us cracking up laughing!), an out fit.... Brooke and Maddie together got a Nintendo DS-I bartered for it. I did pictures for a friend and she gave it to me since her daughter was going to sell it anyway! Spencer got a nerf gun, a electronic fake "lap top" game, air hogs...... . Yesterday, after we ate our Christmas lunch, Brett and I laid down to take a nap before trying to tackle the Christmas mess! When we woke up, our house was SPOTLESS! The kids (all three of them!) had cleaned the entire house-top to bottom! And they even folded the laundry! I am such a proud mother! I appreciate having kids who appreciate even the "little things"!

Brett and I did not buy presents for each other this year (we did buy each other a FM transmitter for our ipods-on black friday), but we did get gifts from our little Noah! Noah bought me an awesome Victoria's Secret tote bag, with several VS items in it! He bought "Daddy Brett" a Starbucks gift card....so he could take "Mama Sherri out on a coffee date"! How sweet is that!

He also got each of the kids presents too (his adopted brothers and sisters :) -BTW, Lisa...Spencer has already colored the entire Star Wars book!

I have been so proud of myself for sticking to my "no diet-diet". I know for all you "normal people" that must sound insane! Maybe it is....who knows? I have never been accused of being sane...LOL! Seriously-I believe that my mindset is really starting to change! I feel the "pull" of junk food becoming weaker! That is NOT to say that I did not eat any!! But there was not any "frantic eating" going on....in preparation of starting a "diet"! AND...with my "all or nothing" mentality-that is amazing! I even went for a walk this morning.....in the past, if I was being "bad" and eating junk-I would not exercise at all-it felt use less to, know that there was NO way that I was going to work off all the junk I ate! Again...it is that "all or nothing" part of my brain at work!

I have a had a TON of positive feedback from that blog post-it really helps me to know that there are other people taking the "no diet vow" with me! I really believe that this will truly work for us! If we can just focus on healthy eating and quit worrying about every lb or even every 1/2 lb gained or lost...I believe that our bodies WILL find a perfect weight to STAY at! Think about it.....isn't that the way that God designed us? I think that Satan will find ANYthing and EVERYthing he can to get our focus off of what it needs to be on! Whether is is us beating ourselves up about our weight...how much we have gained throughout the years (or days!)-or if it is focusing SO much about dieting and how much weight we are losing! In either scenario-our minds are consumed with it and our lives can not be truly whole! If we focus on what God wants for our lives and our families, I believe that HE will direct us in EVERY area of our lives!