Winning and Christmas and Catching Up

I've not had the time or energy to post much in the past few days. I have such good intentions, but I never seem to get around to it. So this is my catch up post.

I WON!!!!!!!!! No really, I did. :P Amy T, over at Diabetes Mine, has been having her great holiday contest. Not this Monday, but the last, I won one of the great prizes. My prize: a great medical ID bracelet from HAH Originals. It had lots of room to personalize and great ideas for info to put on the bracelet.

Now, since I started wearing an ID bracelet on a regular basis (about a year ago), I have been wearing one of the generic $5 ones you pick up at Wal-Mart that simply says Diabetes on the back. It served it's purpose, but I really had been meaning to get another one. This one is great. I was able to put important information on the front, like that I am a Type 1 diabetic on an insulin pump and that I use CGMS. On the back (I don't want everyone seeing all the info, unless they are looking for it) is my full name, date of birth, month of diagnosis, and my emergency contact person and phone number.

Here's a picture:

The best part about it was that it was engraved and shipped the same day I ordered it. I had it in 3 days. Great customer service. HAH Originals has a great selection of bracelets, and if I order a new one, they will certainly be at the top of my list.

Also, Christmas has come and gone. It was rainy and warm here in Tennessee. Kind of sad, since I was hoping for at least a little snow. But, it was still filled with family and love and LOTS of great food (I'm still fighting my blood sugars! Yikes!). Christmas Eve I headed to my dad and grandma's and started dinner. My dad and I cooked most of the day to get a turkey dinner ready. It was pretty good, considering I'd never mad a turkey before...and neither had my dad! My brother and his wife and my nephew and my sister-in-law's son all came over and we had good food and then exchanged presents.

I'm not sure how my brother does it, but almost every year he gets me something that I love but would have never picked out myself or even thought to ask for. This year it was a cool set of bookends (I read ALL the time) that came from Tractor Supply. I'm dead serious. They are really cool though and they look like they have barbed wire on them. Not to mention being heavy enough to chunk at someone's head and kill them. :)

My dad got me some new Christmas ornaments that I needed. No lie. I needed new Dale Earnhardt Jr stuff. I don't have anything with his new number on it... but now I do. :) Pictures below.

Christmas morning I was up early and headed to my mom's to celebrate with her, my step-dad, my baby sister, and my step-grandmother. It was nice. My mom cooked a ham (I LOVE ham!) and I don't get to eat her cooking nearly enough. Though that's probably a good thing for my waist-line. :P My step-grandmother gave my sister an electric organ that she's had for years. It may not seem like much, but it was perfect for my musically talented sister. She was thrilled and even cried (how many 12 year olds do that over a Christmas present?).

I got a radio for my car! Yippee!!!!! I've been without a radio in my car for over a year now. The other one just died and I had never had the money to replace it. It's not usually a big deal since I live so close to work, but on trips out of town it's nice to have. My step-dad and I installed it in my car yesterday before dinner, so I am no longer music deprived. :)

Also, I have been truly blessed this year with Christmas cards. I hang them on the back of my door. The picture I am posting below is actually from a couple of days ago. I have even more now. They are almost all the way to the floor. :) I love Christmas cards. Several of them are from those of you in the Diabetes OC. Thanks for them!

Also, on Christmas Eve I got home from my dad and grandmother's and I checked my mail. Inside was a package. No, it wasn't my Secret Santa package, but it was a package from Jill and her family over at Diabetes Sweeties: My Crazy Life. It was full of fun stuff. Beautiful, handmade jewelry made by Jill herself, and a tee-shirt from their JDRF walk that they did this year! Kacey is even getting awarded the Golden Sneaker for raising $2500 for their walk! How fantastic is that? Jill says the award ceremony is January 11th, so we should all be thinking and praying for them that day.

I know this post is very long and full of information, but I wanted to be sure I didn't leave anyone or anything out. I hope everyone else had as blessed a Christmas as I did.