Merry Christmas!

Sorry for the late post, but we were just having too good a time for me to stop and blog about it! :D
The boys love hearing the story about Jesus' birth, so the book my sister sent was a very special gift. :) They opened that box early, since that's technically from last year. ;) They also got to open their birthday presents now, since I'm a DORK and hid the box that they got from my dad, waaaay back in August. So they stopped asking if they could open their Christmas presents! LOL
Christmas Eve we (P-chan and me, not the boys!!) slept in, and ate a late breakfast. Then I found an ad for the local grocery store that had a coupon for $5 off a $50 gift card, and we had 6 coupons (didn't you know I'm a coupon freak? I get 6 Sunday papers! ROFL), so we sat down to figure out our finances, and due to the fact our credit cards are paid off (weeeeee're deeeeebt freeeeeee!), we could swing all 6 cards. :D So we checked out the movie times for a surprise for the boys, and headed out. Kenshin (because he was up since 4 am!!!!) fell asleep on the way there, so we headed to Meijer, much to Krillin's chagrin ("NOOOOOOO! I hate stores!!"). We bought our 6 gift cards, feeling very proud of our thrifty selves. Then the checkout guy (at the self-checkout) said, "You got more? You can pay for the gift card with a gift card, ya know."
DING DING DING
We were ALL OVER that deal!! The cards take 10 minutes to activate, so we toured the store (as if we haven't walked around before) between times. Kenshin woke up when we got to the pet area. Just before 2:30, I suggested we leave for the movie theatre. At the ticket counter there, P-chan bought the tickets and the boys and I ran to the theatre while P-chan bought popcorn and sprite. We had just arrived at our seats when the movie started. The chipmunks were singing, and both boys had their eyes glued to the screen, trying to figure out where they've heard those voices before. Then the chipmunks themselves were on the screen, and Kenshin yelled, "It's the CHIPMUNKS!" and started giggling. Luckily, everyone in the theatre thought that ourburst was funny. :) Both boys were almost rolling off their chairs from laughter, the entire movie. I had come prepared with some cookies and fruit snacks, so P-chan offering the popcorn and sprite was a very nice bonus. It was fantastic! I also really liked it. I plan to buy it when it comes to DVD. :)
After the movie, we headed back to Meijer, to do more "rolling" of the gift cards. We left when they closed, about 7pm. So, all told, we ended up with $510 in gift cards for $270. NICE.

There's also a great deal on the Rite Aid gift cards ($5 off $25) and I buy the rebate stuff there every month, so we are going to do that one as well. It is SPECTACULAR to be able to afford this, it will help our grocery budget soooo much in the coming months! Being credit-card free is AWESOME! :D

Any-who, we went to McDonald's for dinner (using the GC from the birthday box) and the boys got to play in the PlayPlace. :) The boys fell asleep on the way home, but Krillin did remind me to put the cookies and chocolate milk out for Santa. I'm sure as far as they were concerned, it was the best Christmas Eve ever! LOL

Christmas Day was great! The boys actually slept until 9, but P-chan woke me up at 8 so I could unwrap my presents. :) When they got up, the boys kept getting distracted with the presents they unwrapped before they opened another. LOL At 1pm, we went over to Jessica's house for lunch. Jessica had bought the HoneyBaked Ham from the store, and it was delicious. She also prepared cornbread stuffing, crescent rolls, macaroni & cheese, and brownies. Hugh made a delicious cheesecake; yum-o! I brought stuffed mushrooms, green onion sticks (they're covered in cream cheese, then rolled in shredded cheese), and baked mashed potatoes. We ended up staying until almost 9pm, because we played a game of Phase 10. that was fun! :)

Happy Holidays! Talk to you soon!