It's my last day of work until next year! Well, I might have to do little bits of work from home, but nothing like last year when I worked 2-3 hours per day during my vacation, even on Xmas Eve.

I have to admit I'm flagging. But part of it is that there are no big deadlines or huge projects that need to be done. But there are lots of smaller ways I could get myself set up nicely for next year, so hopefully I'll get some work done today.

We hired a carshare and took the kids to see Santa for the first time last night. We didn't buy the photos (minimum $25) and they didn't let you take your own photos. But it was more about the experience. Plus everyone got to choose what they wanted for dinner, and walk around the festively decorated mall, which we hardly ever do. The kids had a great time.

One of my mothers-in-law (AS's mom) gets in today from Va. and is staying for two weeks in our basement. It could turn out very nice or very unpleasant but will probably end up somewhere in between. I'm just not worrying about it and will focus on trying to help AS not stress out about anything.

We didn't want to overdo it on gifts for her since she'll be lugging it back home, so we got her a $100 Walmart gift certificate, a sleep mask, a photo calendar, and more photos of the kids including school pictures. Oh and we might regift a little basket of nice candy that NT got from work.

We're still expecting some packages and I'm hoping they all get here before Xmas. 10 books and 3 gifts, I believe. But the kids have a lot of presents already, so it'll be fine if they come late. We had to buy the kids' presents for 3 sets of grandparents, an aunt, ourselves and Santa, so even with only a few gifts from each person, it really added up.

My dad's check came, and NT's parents and sister also sent some money. I allocated it mostly as planned. I bought some gifts for the kids in each person's name, set aside $175 each for the kids to go into their mutual funds, put some toward new furniture for the kids' rooms, and gave each adult $200 fun money. Added to the $150 each adult got from NT's bonus, it's a nice chunk of change!!

I almost immediately spent $130 of mine to buy 7 tickets to my favorite band's shows in January. They're playing every Monday in St. Paul, and I'm taking advantage because they spend a lot of time on the road touring other parts of the U.S., Europe and Australia these days.

I bought 2 tickets to one show I'll be bringing AS's mom to, 2 tickets to another that AS will definitely accompany me to, and 1 ticket each to the other three shows. I have friends lined up to go to almost all of them, so I don't think I'll attend any alone, but I will if I have to! I can buy more tickets if NT or AS decide they want to come to any of the other nights with me, but it's not NT's style at all, and AS has been to a lot of their shows with me this past year so she's kind of overdosed on them. She likes them but isn't a superfan like me.

I also spent $80 to enroll in an online class called "Finish your novel." It starts in January and is one of my 2018 goals. I'm planning to buy myself some music lessons for 2018 but haven't done it yet. I'll do a full goals post closer to the end of the year. (Or maybe later today, if I have some more down time at work!)