I Confess...A Catholic girl's guide to life: God ain't got nothing against a little drink to celebrate His son's birth with

Around the Tacchini household at Christmas-time, we definitely believe that God ain't got nothing against a little drinky drink. That's pretty much how we celebrate everything, including a daily celebration of just surviving the day. It's a ritual, of sorts. I recently was able to spend two glorious weeks at my parent's house. I say 'glorious' in total seriousness. I am not the type of person who dreads going home and spending time with family in a remote town in Southern Oregon. I. Love. It. As my dear friend Mason would say, "It's a real treat." Except, Mason would be saying that in a sarcastic way, and I would be saying it in a serious way. It IS a treat to be home. Home cooked meals, sleeping in, not worrying about cleaning, playing with my nephews, watching sports with dad, drinking wine with mom, seeing ol' friends, a night at the Buckingham's, running into someone I know every time I step foot into Fred Meyer. I love it. It's all good!

I wonder how quickly I can get these blogs done...bedtime is looming.

Another great perk of being at home is the wildlife. Yes, you heard me. The wildlife. I am talking about the massing black tail buck that was in our backyard one morning after breakfast. He was quite beautiful and had a pretty nice rack! Klamath is a typically rural place, in general, so it amuses me how amazed I still get at seeing animals literally in my backyard. You just don't see that thing where I live in Eugene. It was a great surprise.

Speaking of surprises, how about that snow?! I did not expect it to snow one time while I was at home. I'm pleased to announce I had many days of snow and had even more fun sitting inside enjoying the beautiful white flakes falling to the ground. I should say it served as a fairly decent excuse to not workout on a couple of occasions. I mean, I wouldn't want to endanger myself with the icy roads and all...right? I don't think he would. God loves me no matter what, even if I'm fat. :o)~ Wait, I'm not fat, I'm just big-boned. Anyway, I'm working on it. See New Year's resolutions list.

Actually, I quite enjoyed my workouts over break. I like going to the Anytime Fitness there because there are TV's on eaach and every workout machine. Thank the Lord, I don't have to watch Fox news because the idiot next to me thinks it's fascinating. Heck no! I can watch Keeping up with the Kardashians, whom I'm doing a very good job of keeping up with. Golden Girls repeats are always classic for a workout. Sometimes I even entertain a little ESPN. I was happy to get back to my regular gym in Eugene, however. I love that gym. Alert! Do not misinterpret "I love that gym" for "I love working out." No, there's not a single thing I like about working out. But, I like the feeling AFTER I workout. I see the necessity in trying to maintain a somewhat healthful body. That's about as far as that goes.

My sister came into town a day early and surprised all of us. Even I didn't know about the surprise! She usually tells me at least. I had been texting her earlier in the day and noticed she had been a bit "short" with me, or so I thought. I, now, know that she was probably driving over treacherous mountain terrain and was basically obligated to text me back asap so that I wouldn't know something was up. It was a great surprise. Little did she know, I had signed us up for a babysitting gig when she got into town. That's always a surefire form of entertainment, especially seeing as how Jacoby basically hates us. Literally, screams and or hides when he sees us. I had brought home all of the leftover candy and supplies from the gingerbread house making extravaganza at school. So, I decided we would be making a gingerbread village. The boys LOVED it. They had such a good time. We all worked together and built quite a fantastical little place. Johnny figured out how to create a 'duck' with candy and Joey mastered the art of decorating the outsides of the houses. They were all different. My sister and I have a great time with the boys and I think those boys are pretty lucky to have such great Auntie's. My nephew, Joey, is hilarious, and we could not stop laughing at his words! He started out by talking to us about, "the Philinnesians." We are like, the philla-who? He answered us quite confidently the Phillinessians, you know, from the Philippine Islands, it's by Guam, etc. Yes, we know where it is located but have never heard of it's residents referred to as Phillinessians. He assured us, he was pretty sure that's what they were called. They're not, Joey. But, it's hilarious anyway. Then, he got to talking about some comedian I have never even heard of. He was trying so hard to convince my sister and I to watch it. (I hope my brother doesn't read this, he may not want this story publicized, but it's too good not to share. I wouldn't want to deprive my people.) Joey went on and on and on about how funny this guy is. Even though, he said, "Daddy said we shouldn't show you guys because it's not really your sense of humor, but c'mon, I think it'll be okay." We kept putting him off saying no, not now, we have other stuff to do, etc. He would not let it go. Finally, Andy (my sister's boyfriend) arrived and jumped right into the gingerbread making fun. While working, Joey is talking our ears off about this comedian. Finally, Joey says, "Come on you guys, I promise. You will laugh so hard, you'll orgasm." UH! WHAT? The room fell silent...all adults eyed each other, as if to say, what do we do now? Then, Joey says, "I don't actually know what that means, but I think it means that you'll laugh really, really hard." To which Andy replies, "Ehhhh, I've never really heard of that happening." Immediately, all adults start busting up. I could not hold it in any longer. I texted his father stat, and when Joe and Aleasha got home they wanted the full run down. Aleasha says, "Gosh darnit, I've had that conversation with him! If he doesn't know what the word means, then he can't use it!" He seems to have forgotten that conversation.

Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are usually the most exciting around our house because of the little kids. They get thrilled about Santa, and it's kind of fun to get to play an elf, now that I'm older. After Christmas Eve mass, we always have Abby's pizza. Then, the boys go off to bed, and all the adults scurry around distributing packages between their house and our house. (They live across the street.) Then, the adults stay up drinking and finally get to bed way later than they should have and eagerly await the "Christmas call." The Christmas call is when the boys get up and call us, so we can rush across the street to watch them open their presents from their parents and their mom and dad. They had predicted the call would come at 5:30. So imagine my surprise when I woke up at 6:30 and we still hadn't gotten a call. I looked across the street and the house was pitch black. Finally, at 7:30 my brother called and said they were going to wake the boys up. And, we were off! I tell ya, Christmas is so much more enjoyable with little kids around. They make it so much more fun. Joey began getting a little upset because he started worrying that everyone wasn't getting as good as stuff as he was. He always worries about things like that. Always thinking about everybody else. Love those kiddos. Jacoby got a brand new rocking horse and he looks absolutely adorable on it. He rides hard though let me tell ya! He was buckin' that thing.

Later on in the week, we had an exciting time ice skating and playing board games. We even got my brother to play a couple board games. That in, and of itself, is a Christmas miracle. What's with people not liking board games? That's ridiculous. One night we decided to play one of Johnny and Joey's new games, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Cheese Touch." Andy called and asked what we were doing, to which, Jeanine replied by reading off the title of the board game. Upon hearing this, Joey says, "Ugh, that sounds humiliating." True, the name of the game is not alluring, but it is actually a fun game!

Get the heck out of here 2010....you will NOT be missed!
Today's List: New Year's Resolutions - I know you probably shouldn't do this and set so many because you're destined to fail, but I'm hopeful. Very hopeful.

1. Stop biting my nails.
2. Lose weight (approx 8 lbs per month) be prepared to hear more about this one!
3. Work out five days a week
4. Work on staying positive and not being so superficial
5. Growing spiritually. I hope, then, that someone will ask me if I'm rich, to which I can respond, "Spiritually." As it stands, I have some work to do.
6. Floss three-four times per week.
7. Blog once per week

Short term New Year's resolutions
1. Finish renewing my teaching license
2. Sell back old college books to an online bookseller
3. Finish exercise in "Dating from the Inside Out" Yes, I must do this because I'm annoyed that Joel's mother posted a picture of her "whole family" on Facebook, which included Joel and his new girlfriend. He looked so happy and I still hurt. How unfair is that! I hope to move on someday and hopefully 2011 will help that. Sorry for the mini rant, but talking about it sometimes makes me feel better and I really want to get the thought of that picture out of my mind! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

Hope everyone is off to a great start in 2011! Oh, I almost forgot. Shout out to all my friends that did Christmas cards this year. I love them. I still have them up. I couldn't believe how many I had awaiting me upon my return from Christmas break. Thank you all for thinking of me over the holidays! Loves!