Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope that Santa was as good to you this year as he was to me!

One of the first gifts I opened this morning from my wonderful crazy husband was this pair of Vibram FiveFingers  barefoot shoes?!?  I honestly did not know what to make of these when I first opened the box.  I looked at them and thought WTF is this?  I mean, I was a kid in the 70′s and I remember those socks with toes that were appropriately adorned with rainbow stripes.  Got the mental image now?  Okay, let’s move on.  I hated those socks.  I tried to wear them and they were unbelievable uncomfortable.  

I reminded myself how great my husband is at gifting and took the high road though and seem interested in these odd and unattractive ”shoes”.  I put them on, struggling to get my little toe in the right slot.  They fit pretty well.  I walked next door to my cherished next door neighbor so I could share this weird Christmas morning experience.   She opened the door and I said “Look what I got.  I don’t know what to make of these”.  We then realized that these shoes are pretty cool.  They are unbelievably comfortable.  They can be worn at any time.  They would probably be great for yoga, climbing, river rafting, the beach….anywhere!  I came back home and proclaimed that I would not be taking these shoes off today.  I still have them on and it is the middle of the afternoon now.  They are creepy and odd looking, I must admit.  Everytime I look down I think my feet belong to a muppet or something. 

Maybe my wonderful crazy husband was really on to something when he got me these.  I checked the website www.vibramfivefingers.com and these puppies are pricey.  Of course – Jason got the best deal on www.ebay.com.    Seems that many people buy these online and then end up reselling them on ebay because they don’t fit right.   I would recommend trying to buy these on ebay.  

I must admit, these Vibram FiveFinger shoes fit like a glove!  

Here’s hoping you get all you want this Christmas!

Our Christmas Tree is not what you would see in the average household.  We were so excited about the holidays, we put our artificial Christmas Tree up the week BEFORE Thanksgiving.  That is seriously the earliest I have ever had a tree up but it seemed like the right time to do it.  After hanging all the tranditional and cherished ornaments with care and then strategically placing the garland around the tree, it was finally finished.  

I just love having a tree in my house.  It reminds me of when I was young and the magic of the Christmas holiday. 

Today, while placing presents under the tree, I noticed that my crazy and adorable husband has added his touch to the tree.  He added Coors Light bottle openers, just in case we have surprise visitors during the holidays.  This way they can just walk up to the tree and choose a gift to take.  This is my husband’s idea for the perfect Christmas Tree.  

Go figure!

The holiday season always brings friends and family to our house.  Anyone we know can feel confident knowing that there is always going to be something out of the ordinary to see at the Smith’s house.  It is this way 365 days out of the year but it is exaggerated during the months of October, November and December. 

For Christmas, we decided to go a little low key this year and did not hang the traditional multiple thousands of  lights off the roof.  Instead we just decided that this monster of a lawn blow up would make up for the lack of the tradional light storm my husband has been known for in the past.  

This is the second year with our huge Santa strategically placed in our front yard.  Size does truly matter at our house.  My unbelievably crazy husband just had to have this huge blow up.  His justification was that we would always have the biggest one on the block.   

In addition to the  huge blow up Santa, we have a large cement lion and life sized black bear that both live in our front yard all year long.  Of course, the lion and bear wear Santa hats during this time of year. 

Everything at our house is different than the normal average home.  Seems a little strange to some people but it is just normal to us.  What is weird and what is normal these days?  I am not sure of the answer to that question.  I have been married to my crazy husband for three years now and I am still trying to sort that out in my own mind.