What I've Been Up To

It's been a while since I posted so I thought I'd check in. My last post was Thanksgiving. Let's see if I can remember what has happened since then.

1. We attended the Cousin's Christmas Party, hosted at Dustin & Leah's. While, I'm not a cousin, and neither is Howard, we're allowed to come. It was F.U.N. SO fun. I love this family!

2. Work is...work. I'm in my "slow" time and so we get lots of "clean up" projects to work on. Tedious, but necessary.

3. Christmas Shopping. Not so much. I'm not sure if it's the general state of the economy or what, but I'm just not feeling the need/desire/urge to overindulge as I have in years past. I think it's happening all over. But, at the same time, I'm looking forward to Christmas. I always do. I love it.

4. Howard's school's Christmas Party. My husband has been a decorating, shopping, arranging FIEND these past few weeks, in preparation for the Helen Herr Staff Christmas Party. We hosted it at our house. We had 49, yes 49! (51 including us) in our house last night. It was pretty wall-wall, but I think people enjoyed it. The overwhelming comments were about how lovely the house was. I don't brag when I say that, because most of you know that Howard is the one who has done all the work in that regard. And, I do have to say, our house looks stinkin' GOOD!

5. I put together a 12 Days of Christmas package and sent it to Michael. Hopefully, he received it by Saturday. He gets to open one gift each day until Christmas. Now, I just need to get the rest of his "real" Christmas to him.

6. Polar Express! Next weekend, we are going to Williams, AZ for the Polar Express, compliments of Sarah and Tyler from last year's Christmas. What an amazing gift. We're all headed down on Satuday, ride the train on Saturday night, and come home on Sunday. I finally scored some pretty cute PJs that will fit in with Sarah's color/theme coordinating, I think. Got a great, fuzzy robe, too. Unfortunately, it doesn't coordinate with the PJs. Hey, you can't have everything.

7. Christmas Cards. STILL haven't done any. REALLY want to, this year. We haven't gotten to that for the past few and I really don't want to drop off people's list. Just trying to find the time to come up with a short, clever, informative note to include, then take the time to sign them and address them all.

8. Christmas goodie baking. STILL haven't done that, either. This was going to be THE year I was on top of both cards and baking. Yeah. Right! But, really, I meant to. I really did. Seriously. But, we have enjoyed a few from others who are more on top of things.

9. Got really great news from Marsha. After a gruelling year of cancer and treatments and recuperation, she had a scare after another mammogram. But, because of insurance snafus, it took her a few weeks to get the final word that EVERY THING IS OK!!! Just one more thing to be really grateful for during this Christmas time.

10. I found out I DO have a tear in my left rotator cuff which means that surgery is coming...sometime later...maybe in the early Spring. I've got some other things to take care of first. I am NOT looking forward to this. The doctor says it will hurt. And, since doctors tend to downplay how MUCH things hurt, when they say it will hurt, I know it will HURT. And, I'm a big, BIG, HUGE pain avoider. I'm banking on lots of pain meds. I've never had the need to use them much, with the exception of a bad bout with my back about 4 years ago, luckily, but I'm not opposed to them. I figure it's the perks of being born in 1955, as opposed to say, 55 or 1455.

11. Christmas dinner. We have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. Mackenzie told me that last year, I said, "next year, we're having pizza and birthday cake!". Now, I don't remember saying that, but it's totally something I would have said in the midst of the scramble of getting dinner on the table. So, after discussion with the adult kids, we're doing pizza this year. I'm so conflicted about it. On the one hand, it just seems like one really good, worthwhile tradition going down the tube. But, on the other hand, I think if it makes for a more relaxed, calm, enjoyable time together for everyone, then I'm all for it. I'll report later. Tyler said he was glad for this new tradition. I said it's not a tradition, but an experiment! We'll see.

That's about it for now. Cold has finally arrived in Las Vegas. It always seems to the week before and the week of Christmas. I've noticed that this seems to be the coldest time of year, often. Considering how long it was G-L-O-R-I-0-U-S here, I don't feel like we can really complain. Rain and SNOW?!?! is forecast for tonight and tomorrow. But, temps aren't going to be cold enough for it to stick, I don't think.

I don't know if I'll post again before Christmas or not, but if I don't, I hope you all have a wonderful one. I can't help but love the time of year when we celebrate the birth of our Savior and the hope he brought into the world. It's a time of evaluating and reevaluating and resolving to make things better. Yep, it's my favorite time of year.