There is joy in my world.
I have been baking and loving the Christmas lights. The baking has been fun and theraputic. The boys have even joined in. Tomorrow I have the day off and I will be baking again - this time for Steve. Darling Steven will turn 40 tomorrow. 40!!! He's also taken the day off - but of course things happen. The day will be interrupted with a meeting at school. And I have to go back to the periodontist... but for the most part we can spend some quiet time together. Maybe watch a couple more episodes of Trueblood :o)

We had a nasty ice storm up in these parts last week. We were very lucky. It's strange how one area can be fine and then a mile away there are trees down all over the place! There are lots of folks in NH who won't have power back until late last week - they've been out since Friday morning. And that's only if the wires are still connected to the house. If the wires were knocked down then it will be weeks!!! Nasty, nasty stuff. Again - we're very lucky.

I have my cards ready to go, just have to address them and stick them in the mail - need stamps!

We went to Breakfast with Santa on Saturday before heading down to Grammie's for an overnite. Holly told me "no Santa" - and she meant it! We got another picture of her wailing on Santa's lap - and Ryan 3 feet away from him. Maybe next year she'll tolerate him ;o)

So we went down to RI to visit Grammie Sat/Sunday and had a very nice night. Her place there is just wonderful - right on the water.

Other than today, I have just Thursday for work, then I'm off through Jan 2 :-) I am so looking forward to the downtime. I have some odds and ends that I'll tie up, but otherwise I'm not working!!!

I also have all my shopping done!!! Woohoo! That includes gifts for 'Jay' - a little boy we 'adopted' for Christmas. I picked up a sweats set and flannel shirt, Thomas the Train sneakers, and a couple of toys for him. I'm also going to see if they'd be interested in some clothing from Ryan that's in good shape. Ryan's just grown out of Jay's size - so it's good timing.

We're spending Christmas at home this year. Then traveling down to my Mom's on the 26th. Hopefully, we'll get to spend time with friends that we don't get to see real often. And my parents haven't seen the kids in a while - Mom saw pictures of Holly from November and didn't recognize her!

Snowflake continues to act as a perfectly healthy cat completely unaware of the tumor that you can now see sticking out the side of his ribcage. He's slowed down a little, napping in the proximity of the kids more often... Sarek seems to be losing his sight a little. He's now waiting at night for Journey to go down the deck steps first - then he follows her. If she doesn't go, he just stands on the deck and barks. Poor thing. At least he has his buddy to help him. We have all 4 animals on special diet blends of food from the vet now. They are all old. We're just happy that they continue to seem comfortable without any specific interventions from us.

The boys are doing well at school. We continue to meet with the school to tweak the things we have in place to encourage them to perform well. And of course it's different for each of them! Kyle has started riding again and is really taking to it. It is so very good for him. Ryan has expressed an interest in riding as well, but wants to wait for the warm weather to come back - it's cold out there!!

That's where things are for the moment. Hope everyone is taking some time to slow down and enjoy the season!!!!