It Must Be The Holiday Season

I was a bit shocked and embarrassed when I logged onto my blog to discover I hadn't posted since before Thanksgiving. Where does the time go? Quickly I thought, "oh yeah it is the holiday season and time goes into double overdrive on the race to Christmas." I have been especially busy at work with a large scale project for one of my clients that has taken quite a large chunk of my time and taken me out of the office quite a bit. In our house we seem to continue to battle illnesses. Ryan came down with the nasty cold I was fighting a few weeks ago. Unfortunately he got a more serious version than I did and ended up at the doctor the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving. He still has a lingering cough. Nasty stuff so early in the season. This past week Anna got quite sick with a stomach bug and spent two days home from school. She bounced back pretty quickly but now it appears Bill is down for the count. Oh how I hate when the older "boy" in the house gets sick. :-) Aren't I mean??

Since last writing we traveled north to Cambridge to cut down our Christmas tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving. This is a traditional event that Bill and I started way back in 1991. Other than the 8 Christmases spent in Eau Claire (where we found a tree farm there to cut a tree at) we have always gone to Cambridge. We have enjoyed near-balmy temps to frigid ones in all the years as well as barren ground to knee deep snow. This year was pretty mild with only a light dusting of snow. And this year was a first for me who usually walks around for an hour or more to find "the perfect tree" as I found our tree on the second time I asked Bill "how does this look?" Apparently with turning 40 comes decisiveness? Ha ha ha.
We also celebrated Ryan's 10th Birthday. He turned 10 December 3rd but we didn't get to really celebrate since Bill was working and Anna was sick. So we surprised him with a small cake the next night. He also had a small party with some family yesterday and tonight we took him to Famous Dave's for his birthday dinner. I still can't believe he has entered double digits in age. Doesn't seem possible.

No I haven't officially started Christmas shopping but I do have a pretty good idea in my head of much of what I will be buying when I get the chance. Money is tight for us this holiday season (as I am sure it is for everyone) so gifts will be light. We have prepared the kids for fewer gifts especially given the October Disney trip. We even have told them times are tough for Santa. Bill and I have tried to agree on a "no gift exchange" truce this year and I hope we are both good on it. I know Bill really has his heart set on a flat panel HDTV but it may have to wait for ts refund time. I would also like to get in some baking but we will see if I have the time. Sad as that is likely my most favorite thing to do for the holidays.

Hope you enjoy the photos sprinkled throughout the post and if anyone out there wants to take my shopping list and get it done for me just drop me a line. :-)