"Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, kiss my ass. Kiss his ass. Kiss your ass. Happy Hanukkah. "

Christmas Vacation is such a great movie. We are getting geared up to watch it on Christmas Eve and I thought this quote from it would be a great blog title. I finished work today and all is well. The kids had a great last couple of days but I could tell we were all ready for a break. I plan to spend the next 12 days not doing much at all. I have my annual Lord of the Rings trilogy marathon to look forward to but other than that, it's going to be rest time. It's been a good year and we have a lot to be grateful for. The "Year of Shea" went pretty well. Getting my job was awesome but it's also been one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I'm hoping 2011 will be even better. I want to wish all my friends and family a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year!

I wanted a picture of the girls in their Christmas dresses before church on Sunday. Hanna showered late so I had to just pull her hair back, ruining my perfect matching curl/matching dress idea.

Then they wanted the cat in the picture. Whatever. I've learned over the last 10 years that there is never going to be a "perfect" picture so I try not to stress about it as much anymore.

Hanna wanted to do a special pose just for Karen.

This is how Lucy spends a lot of her day, cradled like a baby. The cat might soon forget how to walk.

A special gift from me to you...