Journaling My Christmas Catch-up

For the prompt on finishing up the last of the to-do list:
"I got almost all my shopping done by early December but didn't start wrapping until after the tree was up and decorated.  Clara enjoys wrapping, so volunteered to help.  Imagine my surprise when I read the tags on the presents.  Although the 'to:' part of the tag was all quite ordinary, the 'from:' part of each tag was filled out 'from: Clara and her family.'"
For the prompt on music, I'm subsituting a post about holiday movies, with this picture of my brother's Christmas tree:

"We enjoy watching Christmas movies around the holidays.  My favorite is White Christmas, and Paul's favorite is Miracle on 34th Street.  Of the more recent movies, we do all enjoy The Santa Clause. We'll sometimes sit and watch The Christmas Story as well. but we've never been big fans of It's a Wonderful Life.  This year, on Christmas Eve, we watched The Nativity Story, which was really beautiful."
For a day in the third week of December, I'm also documenting the following:

"The last week before the kids got off of school involved a lot of school work.  Henry was studying for finals, and Clara was finishing up all her sch0ol work for the quarter.  They were also very busy with basketball games and soccer games.  All that work made me look forward to the holiday break even more!"
And for a post that combines Shimelle's prompt on a suprising event/gratitude, here's this story (illustrated with a picture from a San Francisco window):

"During the last week of school before the holiday break, I was having a tough time of things. . . feeling pulled in too many directions with Clara having been sick, my exam being mis-administered, misplacing the altered book I was working on, and a host of other responsibilities.  Things went from bad to worse when my car got stuck in the mud outside an Athletic Boosters meeting! I felt like crying, but Cameron Palmer and a couple of his employees cheerfully helped me free the car and sent me on my way.   Cameron often plays 'King Candy' in the community production of Candy Land, and he definitely reminded me of Father Christmas on that cold, drizzly night.  An unexpected blessing just when I needed it most."