Today is my mom's birthday, and a few days ago it would have been my mother-in-law's birthday, but she passed away during the summer. I miss her, and I feel really badly that our kids won't be able to know her.

I've been thinking about Christmas a lot lately. We still need to put up the tree, and I need to clean the house. My parents and sister are coming over Christmas Eve to hang out and play games, and possible have our big dinner then, if not then on Christmas Day. They're staying in town, so we can open presents on Christmas. One thing I really love to do is buy the kids some Christmas pajamas, wrap them and let the kids open them Christmas Eve night and wear them then. I also want to get some for Chuck and my family, too. I think it's a really cute tradition.

For Christmas dinner we're having turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, brown sugar yams, (candy yams make me sick), biscuits, peas or green beans or corn (haven't decided), and ribs. Chuck's ribs are sublime. He buys the extra meaty kind, and boils them in Italian dressing, and then barbecues them, and slathers them with barbecue sauce. They are so good. His turkey is also the best and juiciest ever. He soaks it over night in a brine solution. A brine is a saltwater that is used to soften the meat and make it juicy. In his brine, he uses water, salt, brown sugar, Italian dressing and seasonings. The turkey soaks submerged in the solution, and it makes it so juicy and tender. So so good. I've never tried its equal.

For my dad's gift, we're getting him a light and a "sleeve" sort of thing for a nook simple tablet that my mom got him for Christmas. For my mom, I'm making her a sort of "display" with a board and clothespins. I'm going to paint the board and paint "Grandkids" on it and put the kids' hand-prints on it, and attach the clothes pins to the bottom, so she can hang pictures of the kids and artwork they give her. She bought an easel for them for Christmas, and some paints, so this will be perfect, and she has no idea. She asked for pajamas or slippers, so I hope she'll be wonderfully surprised. I don't know what to get Chuck for Christmas, he never gives me any hints, and when I do buy him something, he hates it. The last time I bought him a gift, he ended up giving it to someone else. I have a few things I want for Christmas, and I keep mentioning them to Chuck, but I doubt he'll get me anything on this list - Essie nail polishes (any colors, I'm starting a collection), a couple of nice earrings I could wear every day, a new temper-pedic pillow (because the kids keep taking the stuffing out of mine), and a professional massage. I honestly don't know what I'll be getting for Christmas.

We invited my mom, dad, and sister, but expressly forbade her from bringing her boyfriend, Ryan. He's a creep and a psycho. I've mentioned him before - my sister asked my mom for birth control so they could have sex. Chuck absolutely hates him, probably because he recognizes what's bad about himself in Ryan, but whatever, and won't let him in the house. I realized when they started dating, that Becca and I have the same father, which means we probably have the same "daddy issues" and will both seek out and date controlling men. Her boyfriend reminds me so much of my first boyfriend. She says my first boyfriend was much creepier, but no one saw him that way. Even after he did abuse me, no one believed me because everyone loved him. I know he's just going to end up hurting her like my ex hurt me. So Chuck says he not invited to our Christmas, he should spend it with his family, even though they are drunken abusers apparently. Becca told us he won't drink because he dad is an alcoholic and an abuser, which sounds like the exact thing that would make Ryan an abuser, as well. He's so possessive of her and so easy to anger. He's a bad driver, and anything that makes him angry makes it worse. I can't wait until they break up.

12:37 P.M. - 12.13.11