Hello Hello, Everyone!

I hope you all have had amazing Holidays filled with love and family and togetherness. I know I have. 2021 was an interesting year and it ended on a positive note. Team Tatum has entered into 2022 with great expectations and excitement for what is in store.

Christmas

It all started with Christmas. Now, I am NOT known for my gift-wrapping abilities. I committed to learning the “pretty way” this year. I got tired of doing it “the pretty way” after about 20 boxes and a handful of VERY oddly-shaped presents. Enjoy this potato-quality low light iPhone pic of our tree! Surprise! I didn’t even get my camera out on Christmas morning-I was WAY too exhausted to even try!

Here are some gifts wrapped the “Pretty Way” because I fully understand and respect “pics or it didn’t happen”!

I even made little pompom bows and such! It was fun while it lasted. Ignore the glue drips across the red and white package haha.

Life Pro Tip: Glue Gun takes the cake for gift-wrapping!

Goodbye ten-rolls-of expended scotch tape-Hello melted finger prints!

My phone did get a chance to shine with a handsome backlit Magnetile garage crafted by none other than Jamison & Andrew. I was really surprised at how much Andy loved the Magnetiles since they were a gift for the 3-year old. I really enjoyed them, too!

Dirty Santa

Every year (except for years smothered by pandemics that should have gone away already-do your part!), my family gathers for our annual Dirty Santa exchange. Everyone goes through their home ( early spring cleaning!) and picks out random junk and sometimes, really NICE items. Thank you Todd for the Shark Steam Mop circa 2017 or 2016 or sometime before Jamison arrived earthside. We STILL use it regularly!

Anyway, we throw a stuff into gift boxes and bags and take them to Dirty Santa & take turns stealing other’s treasures and having an absolute BLAST. I will never forget Dirty Santa 20-something, when I opened a box with individually wrapped junk. I grabbed one wrapped gift out, held it up & blurted out “this better not be a taylor swift CD!” Spoiler Alert. It WAS a Taylor Swift CD - more on the Taylor Swift-Thing later ( maybe). So long-story-short……

I was not surprised at ALL that some of the Dirty Santa gifts included a pothos-potted-purse, a beautiful jewelry cabinet that was fought over, this Definitely-not-going-to-murder-my-family-in-their-sleep Elf, and a mold of one of my cousins ears that they made to hold one single earring that lost it’s mate. Yes. My family is insane silly. Yes that’s where I get it from. And YES I love them all more than anything-even when I have to teach my grandmother how to use her TV, phone, tablet, laptop & internet just about monthly. ( I love you Nina. Don’t be mad! )

ps. That’s the jewelry cabinet about to be unwrapped by mom’s best friend Libby to the left. Libby may not be blood, but she’s family & she scored with that dang jewelry cabinet!

Excitement at the In-Laws

First and foremost, my superhuman Mother-In-Law just came out of hip-replacement surgery. I don’t know how this woman does it, but she was determined to make Christmas amazing, with or without her old-lady walker. I didn’t get many photos of the festivities because I decided to be present instead of just snapping a thousand photos. Hey! I actually existed at this Christmas gathering :D. Watching the joy on everyone’s faces made me so incredibly happy. We all received amazing gifts ( ahem thank you Jules for continuing the Bob Ross theme with my amazingly soft throw blanket! )

Enjoy some photos NOT taken by moi!

K. Thanks. Bye! Back to getting the new scheduling system up and running & working on dun dun dun Taxes :/.