So worried and now so excited!

It's been a long time and I'm not even going to try to recap all that's been going on. It's been a long two weeks but the good news is it's almost Christmas and I'm in a very fine mood. Two weeks ago or so, I was really worried about Christmas in general. I need to make a note of this because I'm sure I'll do this again next year. I was convinced that Christmas would be cancelled because I couldn't find anything to get the Puddin' that was not cheesy, stupid and/or ugly. All the things I could think of that he really needs I couldn't get for him. I can't pick out a truck cap for him. I can't pick out goalie pads. Making matters "worse" was Rich's enthusiasm over the super cool presents he had gotten for me. So I was officially the World's Worst Girlfriend because I couldn't think of a thing I wanted to get him. He was going to end up with socks and Vise Grips.

Since then, I have had two fine ideas. One is a bit more complicated than the other, but they both are pretty cool. The most recent gift to arrive is the kind where you wish Christmas was tomorrow just so you could hand it over and share just how freakin' neato it is. So I'm back in the spirit of things for the moment. I promise to share details of all the cool gifts in a few days so as not to spoil any surprises.

We're still not done with our shopping, but it helps that we do our holiday celebrating in waves where we give out office gifts first, then family gifts and then gifts to friends a few weeks after Christmas. I'm all in favor of this plan because it helps keep the idea of Little Christmas/12th Night going and keeps the two of us from burning out.

I think tomorrow will be a day of some last minute shopping and a TON of gift wrapping. Mom came over to help me wrap all the gifts for our office mates last week and it was a fine few hours of mother/daughter quality time. Mom always says that "when she retires" she wants to work as a gift wrapper in a department store. She really does have a talent for it and I meant to take a photo of all 14 gifts that were wrapped in different paper with fancy handmade bows on them. Perhaps she'll come help me again after Christmas for all our 12th Night gifts.

I'll update more later but for now, you can enjoy a goofy picture of Stanley and an equally entertaining picture of Emily expressing her displeasure with our holiday house guest.

A minor progress report

This will be brief because this is how my head feels right now (warning, link has sound). This really is one of the worst headaches of my life and I've had it for the last seven hours. But even my head being squeezed in an imaginary vice with flames can't lessen my excitement over my progress on the First Hand Knit Sock Ever.

I just finished turning the heel on the plane ride down to Florida and it really was as exciting as everyone said it would be. I read the directions a dozen times and kept thinking, "um, ok, if you say so, but that doesn't sound like it's going to make anything other than a giant mess." And then next thing you know I had a heel! And then it joined back up with the rest of the sock and it started to turn into a foot! Holy crap, I'm making a sock and it's awesome!

I highly encourage all knitters to make socks. It's not very hard and that heel part really is pretty magical. It was all I could do to contain my excitement on the plane. Now just to finish sock #1 and get crackin' on its mate.

In other news, I saw giant killer whales this afternoon but you'll have to wait for pictures of that because I forgot my compact flash reader. But that was pretty kick ass. Not "oh my god, I'm actually turning a tube into a piece of clothing" kind of cool, but very cool all the same.

If you squint your eyes, the Christmas tree seems even brighter.

I'm taking a break from the drudgery of work and packing to share some happier tidbits. While we are all incredibly sad about the loss of Lucky, everyone seems to be taking it in stride. Our family has had some great track records of dealing with grief in all its forms and everyone's support is a great help. We all cheered ourselves up on Sunday night by working on our Christmas tree that came from the office. We had a tree gifted to us when the 9' tree from the office had to leave lest our newest employee puff up like a blowfish from allergies (note: we should add that to the interview questions for any future employees). Since we like Jen more than needles stuck in the carpet at the office, the tree had to find a new home and with some creative trimming it fits nicely in the corner of our living room.

My parents came over to help with the tree and I was reminded that Daddy really enjoys putting up a tree. Since we not only had our lights but the six strings from the office (this is what happens when Bossman and I can't agree on what to buy), there were plenty of lights to go around. We had to do some bulb testing to get my favorite set to work and replace some duds along the way, so that slowed us down a bit, but we were undeterred. At one point my father was going to go home and get his voltage meter, but I reminded him of the giant pile of lights in the floor we still had to work with and a medley of lights might be a better use of all our efforts. Once we had filled the tree with lights, it really did start to look like Christmas.

I'm still woefully unprepared for the holidays, having not purchased a single present yet, but it seems to work out every year. While working on the tree with my father and chatting with my parents it felt like we were building some fine holiday memories of our own. In many ways it was a way to take lemons and turn them into lemonade so that we could enjoy some quality time together and give my father a chance to reminisce about our beloved cat while focusing on some happier projects than digging graves in the backyard.

It also helped that while we were working on the tree, the kitties were super involved in chasing the strings of lights across the floor and investigating all the boxes of crinkly paper. It's always nice to enjoy those around us while we give thanks for those we miss.

I don't know that we'll actually get around to putting garland on the tree this year unless I go out and buy more because Ms. Kitty has staked her claim. I hope everyone else is able to focus on some happy things in amongst the stress of preparing for the holidays. If you need to, just look at the cute kitty pictures occasionally. It cheers me and Daddy up.

Ms. Kitty stakes her claim to the garland