It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

And somewhere, we skipped Thanksgiving. Well, actually, we didn’t skip it. I just haven’t followed Cassandra’s instructions to blog about it.  After all, someone’s got to show her she can’t be dictating everything.

So, for the very short recap: Thanksgiving was fabulous. Dad was home for it this year (HUGE hooray!!!) and we had a full house – Logan & the Lion Tamer, Jessie & Barry, and Alisha & Mike Tompkins were all there, in addition to the rest of us.  Since Alisha, the Lion Tamer, Jessie, and I all brought contributions to dinner, it made it easier on everyone – aka, no one had to make an entire dinner. And the boys did the dishes. (Actually, I think it was Dad who did the dishes. So it would be the Man that did the dishes.)

November was also the month of birthdays. You already know we that we celebrated Logan’s birthday, but you haven’t heard yet that Wade turned 15 (15! Can you believe it?) and Alisha turned 24.  Yes, I already know I’m getting old. Since I’ve hit the antique stage already, I’m not sweating it. Antiques just get more valuable with age anyway.

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve learned a few things. For instance (and in no particular order):

• It is absolutely possible to cut off a good portion of your fingertip with a pair of scissors while trimming long-stemmed roses. You may feel like an idiot when you are successful at that (especially if you haven’t been trying to cut off part of your finger). Or maybe that’s just me.
• Your fingertip grows back when you’ve cut part of it off. Freaking. Amazing.
• When you are a new homeowner, the leaves from across the street, next door, and down the block will all end up in your front yard. And you will fill over 30 bags of leaves before you even hit the backyard. At that point, you may decide to pretend the leaves in the backyard don’t exist.
• Planting tulips for the spring should be done before the ground freezes. Of course, when you buy your tulips on sale for $3 a pack, the ground will undoubtedly freeze that same night.  Trying to dig up your frozen yard builds character. (Or at least that’s the story I’m sticking with.)
• Picking out a short Christmas tree is nothing short of genius when you realize that you won’t have to get the ladder out to decorate the top half.
• If you put your Christmas tree in a corner, you don’t have to put ornaments on the back  of it.
• Hanging Christmas lights on your very own house is exciting. Of course, if you haven’t done it before, you risk running out of lights before you’ve finished.
• The holiday spirit will undoubtedly cause you to feel a need to play Christmas music on your violin.  If you haven’t played your violin in ages, even your dog will cry at your first attempts. (Anyone know a teacher in the KC area?)
• Surprisingly, this will be one of the busiest times of the year at work.  Last year at this time? Super slow. This year? In court nearly every day for the past two and a half weeks.

Yeah, learning is an awesome thing. Working is a fabulous thing. And Christmas 2011? Well, it’s shaping up to be the best yet.