Getting there

Yes, we have a Christmas tree! My husband, N, and J went out this evening to the place we go every year, and they were gone. Then they looked for one of the different lots that we drive past on the main road around here. They were all gone. Finally, they went farther down the main road to the lot we got our tree from the first year we lived here. It's actually a putt-putt golf place. They were still opened and had trees. This tree cost $11 more than he would have spent at the place we usually go to. I noticed that the place we usually go to was still there Friday. It had to have closed down since then. That's what we get by putting off for so long getting a tree.

As you can see, the star is very crooked. It looks better but lower now. Mr. K cut off the twig it is on in the picture, and put it in a more central location. The tree also has a tree skirt on now. We've blocked off easy access to the tree (exept from through the French doors you can see above my son's head which lead to my and Mr. K's bedroom). We don't want any kids playing with the tree before Christmas. Once we got it up, we caught N and J undecorating it to get at the candy canes.

Also, we only have a few Christmas cookies left. While I prefer thin, buttery, crisp Christmas cut-out cookies, Mr. K likes the thick, pasty kind. He says these are his favorite cooky.

J helped me lick envelopes and put postage on Christmas cards last night, and this evening, I ran the load up to the post office and put them in the mailbox along with some bills. (I didn't want to forget to put them in my own mailbox, and I didn't want the bills sitting out all night, plus it seemed like a lot of mail to dump on the mailman at once.)

I got J's cupcakes for her birthday at preschool done this evening. Dinner tomorrow will be a breeze since J wants to go out to dinner.

Mr. K took care of some final wrapping for J's birthday.

I need to pick up J's birthday cake tomorrow after dropping her off at preschool. Then I think I should run out and find a two-picture 5" x 7" frame in which to put N and J's school pictures so Mr. K can have it as a Christmas present and he can put it on his desk at work.

I think when I get done here, I'll work on sealing the boxes we need to mail to Michigan with the Christmas presents. I'm not sure when they'll get shipped, but at least we will be ready to ship them.

Some evening this week, Mr. K and I will get out lots of wrapping paper after N and J are in bed, and we'll do the massive job of wrapping all the Christmas presents for the kids. Mr. K is a much sloppier wrapper than I am, but he goes really fast.

So, things for Christmas seem to be coming together at a much better rate than last time I posted. At some point, I still need to figure out what to do with a duckling, and get it out of the freezer to thaw.