It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I am a little more rested since I last wrote - still crazy busy but I have been trying to head to bed around midnight instead of 2 am. I use to be able to work really late without a problem... this turning 40 sure has put the kibosh on a few things. However I am not complaining. I am so grateful for the work because even though Wall Street seems to be back to fat bonuses and people are out stimulating the economy by shopping, I know too many people that are looking for work or have had to take pay cuts and forgo raises. So, I remind myself of that when I want to be doing other things instead of working...like sleeping. The crazy hours will be over in a few short weeks and then I can sleep.

This weekend we decorated the house for Christmas. I still have more to do but we are off to a very good start. The tree is decorated and Steve has done a fantastic job lighting the outside of our yard. You cannot see our display from space but it is pretty bright. I am so proud of my neighbors. All of my immediate neighbors have their lights up and it looks so festive. It's magical to look out and see every one's lights twinkling. Makes my heart happy and Ellie just loves to look at them. It's been raining the past two days so I haven't gone out to take photos. Hopefully this weekend I can snap off a few shots to share. I can show off some of the inside though. We set the tree up in living room (you know that room near the stairs) in front of the window. White lights are featured inside but on the outside we have lots of twinkling colors, a polar bear we have lovingly named Shane after our beloved Shepherd and a snowman that well at night looks like a blob of lights but he does look like a cool blob of lights. Inside we have two trees. Our living room tree and then a smaller tree up in the big window in our entry way.

living room tree

I so love putting the ornaments on the tree with the girls. We have the homemade, sentimental ornaments that the girls have made in school or at Brownies, then there are the ornaments that Steve and I acquired before kids, then there are the milestone ornaments like Babies First Christmas, Babies Baptism and photo displays that sort of thing. Then there are the kids ornaments; Dora, Arielle, Pooh Bear etc. and a new one that I have yet to give Ellie - Tom and Jerry. She watched this cartoon during treatments last year and loves it. Lastly there are the ornaments that I just love. The Williraye, the Krinkles, The Hallmark ones... as you can tell we have an eclectically decorated tree. Each ornament holds a happy memory and it's a true joy putting them up.

this is one of my favorite ornaments - a Krinkles tuxedo frog with a little Christmas tree.

the girls trim the tree

I am off to print some more notepads, laminate luggage tags and print out holiday labels. I have Law and Order on the TV and a nice cold cup of cranberry juice. The rain is pouring down and I have another 2 hours of energy left. I leave you with a photo of crazy Kanye. He is off to the vet bright and early tomorrow for a little lasering. He is getting neutered and being declawed. His days of scaling my window treatments and hanging on the porch screens are coming to and end. Oh, and that 2 am howling, we hope his cries looking for love will be much quieter after tomorrow too.