We're Ready for Christmas!

When I was growing up, we always bought our tree a few days before Christmas. The choice was slim, the trees were forlorn, and they exemplified the Charlie Brown experience. Later on, my dad became more "environmentally conscious" and we no longer purchased cut trees. Instead, we bought live trees that we planted in the backyard after Christmas was over.
We went to Home Depot after Anna's physical therapy appointment because of her fractured ankle in September and the Baby Blue Colorado Spruce begged to come home.

The guys who helped us load it into my Cube were surprised they could fit it inside. Then we went to Ace Hardware where all Christmas decorations were 50% off.

Our tree is truly beautiful. Drew said he heard a little boy walking on our sidewalk, "Wow, look at that!"

I guess we did good.

Catching Up is Hard To Do

Well, I didn't win NaNoWriMo this year---I had high hopes but... I know exactly what I have to do in the coming year to make it possible. So, it wasn't a complete waste of time.

This past weekend was so full, on Monday I couldn't remember what I had done at work the previous Friday. We got up and ran a 5K for the USO where Drew was featured in the PDN photo gallery. I managed to snag a PR--25:53 (I just wish I had pushed a few seconds harder). A woman named Erika beat me for third place in the women's Master division. My New Year's resolution was to run a sub-24:00 5K. I didn't make it but I came close. There aren't any more 5Ks for the rest of the year, so I'll have to start over in January.

After the run, we had tennis and judo. We couldn't wait any longer so we saw "Quantum of Solace" at the local theatre. Just our luck---it's showing on base this coming Saturday for free. We ate at our favorite Japanese restaurant, Tairyo Sushi, then came home and finished watching "Amadeus."

On Sunday, we had church and I totally blanked that we were doing Children's Sermon. Gregg presented a great talk on being seeds that grow into trees from the Old Testament reading (Isaiah). After church, we came home and pulled out the decorations for the Christmas tree. It was a heated discussion on whether we should post the tree in the living room or on our newly-enclosed patio. The living room won out---for now.