Ready

I made this layout with our tree from last year. I wanted to journal a lot about the significance of each ornament here, but I just decided to simplify the concept--who wants to read a ton about inanimate objects anyway?--and wrote the basics around the outer edge. I used my Coluzzle for the circles, then used leftover Christmas products for the rest. Our decorations are done, with the final exception of the stockings, which we hang before bed Christmas Eve.

We are just about ready for the holidays. I want to bake a lot, but I haven't had it in me; I'm a much more productive baker when Derick is here to keep the natives from going insane (and me, for that matter) while I bake. So we will be baking, getting last-minutes ingredients for pie, and waiting in eager anticipation for the Big Heap of Snow coming tonight. We started going sledding Christmas Day; I hope to do it again this year.

Tomorrow night will be the first in a while I will be home for Christmas Eve. The Chorale I sing in performs at the candlelight service, and I've had to go sing every year. Now that both Derick and I are in it, I told the conductor she had to pick one of us for the night; the boys are just too young to make it that late without a huge meltdown. She needed a low bass more than a high soprano for the song being performed, so Derick gets to sing while I get an early start on counting sugar plums.

Merry Christmas.