Christmas is Almost Here!

Really wanting to post pictures of my decorations/kids/baking etc... curse Kalea and her need to chew things. A new camera cord is probably on it's way to me in the next 24hrs :) Joy...
So Christmas is coming and this year I am SO excited. I am pretty sure that Steve is slightly annoyed at my level of excitement, but I just get SO SO SO excited at this time of the year. This year I have a few reasons
#1: We can actually afford Christmas presents for us and others this year, not that gifts are super important, but it's really nice to not have to worry about money at this time of the year.
#2: Steve let me get my very first and very own beautiful new pre-lit tree and gave up on his dream of a real one- at least for this year :)
#3: I have found an amazing sugar cookie and icing recipe this year, and I gave most of them away! Maintaining weight loss makes me excited too :)
#4: We don't have any newborns/infants this year which means we are getting infinitely more sleep in the days leading up to Christmas- even with the kids teething and/or having colds, and are therefore having a lot more fun!
#5: We are leaving on vacation in T minus 12 days! Is there such a thing as "The 12 Days Before Vacation"? I think there should be, hmmm...
#6: Kalea is really on her way to potty training. She might already be potty trained if it weren't for the hectic-ness of this time of the year and the fact that I have so little motivation to be consistent when I'm running in 10 different directions, but she is doing great to remind me! Ha and of course what is Kalea potty training without a funny story? Our home teachers came over last night and Kalea amused herself by coming up and downstairs a million times- once in a completely new outfit. She was also blowing kisses over her shoulder at the guys on her way up the stairs- evil girl. Anywho, we put a movie on for her so that she would stay out of our stuff and maybe not come up and down the stairs so much. So when the guys left I went upstairs to find her sitting in front of the tv on her potty. She was so proud of herself "Mommy I potty!" and all that jazz... I was proud too, although I was also a little sullen, for this child doesn't ever use the little potty and the bucket that catches urine/feces was downstairs where the little potty used to be. She basically pee'd on the floor, but had a spot to sit while she did it, grrrrrreat :) But yay, she used the little potty!
See, so much to be excited about!