Christmas is Creeping Up...

Yesterday, we procured our Christmas tree. It even stayed on the roof of the truck all the way home. It took all of about ten minutes to decorate... I was feeling generous so I made hot chocolate for the kids.

Afterwards, I realized that it was Sunday and Keelan had not done any of his homework. It took him nearly an *hour* to do three pages of homework. So short is his little boy attention span. And so I have his father to thank, who also has a little boy attention span still, at the age of 41...

I've been getting back into beading:


The hemp is fairly new to me... I have done knotwork in the past but with other materials. I've been making stuff like crazy, it feels like. Bead work, hemp work, crochet, painting, origami... plus two other projects I haven't started yet: an ornament and a gift box. I feel the creativity flowing, and it hasn't for a long, long time. It makes me happy.

And reading! Lots of reading... I've started the Dune series, am finishing the City of Ember series, made it halfway through Beowulf, and started listening to The Alchemist on CD. Plus, I have a couple of Phillip K Dick novels on request from the eBook library.

I am feeling a little anxiety about Christmas coming up. While I'm immensely relieved at having bowed out of most of my usual obligations this year, I still have a couple of scheduling unknowns, which bugs me. I can't do anything about it, but it still bothers me. I want to *know* what's happening and when! I do know that I'm spending Christmas day with my dad, and Christmas eve with my in-laws. Additionally, someone very dear to me has a birthday coming up, and my daughter also has a birthday. So I guess I can't totally escape the mayhem... but I do feel like I've had more say in what I'm involved in this year, which feels good.