Captain Awesome

My husband is about the most wonderful thing ever. He is patient, unselfish, strong, caring, sweet, funny, smart, confident, successful - all of those things I wanted in a spouse but didn't think I'd find in one person. I don't know how I managed to end up married to someone so amazing, but I'm so thankful for him, and happy to be looking forward to many more years together. I love you, babe.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Christmas has been completely lovely this year, full of beautiful moments with loved ones. We spent Christmas Eve night at our church's candlelight service, contemplating the Light of the World and the hope, love, joy and peace of advent. This morning Derek and I exchanged small gifts and then spent hours talking with both our families. Our webcam is finally set up and working, and it was nice to talk face to face with my mom for the first time in over a year. Chris, Maryanne, Ky and Lyn came over for Christmas dinner, and we spent the rest of the evening alternating between playing games and snacking on all the Christmas goodies we have around here. It's been completely wonderful.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a panda in a Christmas tree.

When my family lived in China, they bought a whole bunch of enamel Christmas ornaments at one of the markets. Dad picked out a whole box of them shaped like pandas and insisted that they be put on the tree even though the rest of us thought they were really ugly. My sister Angie's solution to this every year was to put a few of them on the back of the tree where no one would see them, and it became a family joke. All of those pandas were lost in a move, but I have a little enamel ball with a panda on it and I stuck it on the back of my tiny tree tonight while Derek and I were decorating to fill my heart and keep home close even when everyone is far away.

Content

I've been looking forward to the weekend all week, and it's finally here. My house is tidy, my kitchen is clean, and I'm all set to enjoy a perfect weekend. I'm staying up a little later than usual because I can sleep in. Tomorrow I'll get to spend time with friends and then set up our tiny little Christmas tree and watch a movie for date night. And on Sunday, Derek and I are going over to Maryanne's to watch the Riders win the Grey Cup! I might even start some Christmas baking - we'll see what the weekend brings.

Feeling Groovy

I'm feeling happy today for the first time in a long time. It's nice. I'm sitting here and Chris and Maryanne's, watching the Riders and feeling content. It's about time I started feeling more like myself.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

Derek and I joined the Westshore Community Band today. I'd been thinking that I wanted to join a choir or band this fall, and then Derek decided it might be fun to pull out his old trombone, so we attended our first rehearsal this evening. Derek's in the low brass section, and I've just become the second percussionist for the band. I get to have fun playing mallet instruments, crash cymbals, triangle, and whatever other "toys" might be called for.

I'm really excited that Derek and I will get to do this together; it'll be this fall's equivalent of the dance class we took last winter. It's nice to be able to enjoy hobbies and grow in new skills together. And the band seems like a lot of fun - enjoyable repertoire and good personalities. It's going to be a good fall.

The trees are greener on the other side?

I just scared two deer out of my backyard. They were eating the leaves from our baby trees in the backyard. Knocking on the window only made them pause for a second before going back to grazing, so I stepped outside the door and made a step towards them, and they were gone. I never thought I'd have to chase deer off my yard. The silly things would rather eat from the 3 trees in the backyard here than from the forest just past the yard!