Christmas Spirit and miscellaneous updates

I admit: I wanted to get a Christmas tree today. Yessir, I feel the old Christmas spirit, sure enough. But I think we'll settle for some free pine cuttings. We did hang up some lights, and the boys' newly finished room is looking festive enough. We even set up the stereo to play Christmas music while the boys drift off to dreams of sugarplums and ginger cookies.

But this is not the northern Christmas of sleigh rides to Grandmother's house, or even coats and mittens. I need to mow the lawn.

I went fishing Friday, and enjoyed a good day with Jeffery catching a haul for dinner and more, with various fish biting all day long.

I have one week to read book of The China Study before it is due. I found it today--it had been lost for a while in our heap of displaced things, things being moved from room to room while we renovate the house we're living in.

President Obama eased my nerves today about sending more troops to Afghanistan.

Bonnie looks exactly like usual, except for the half globe protruding from her front like she's trying to sneak around a bowling ball under there.

We made Advent wreaths the other day. Ours turned out pretty well but it didn't last too long. I mean, it still exists, but Isaac took the first opportunity to drag it through the house by the candles. It lost a little splendor on that one.

We seriously need to get in gear with collecting our memories and making some photo albums of some sort. Well, there's a ton of stuff that needs doing, isn't there.

Probably the best story to report is of going to the urgent care clinic the day before Thanksgiving to get a tetanus booster and some stitches. I cut my wrist because I just couldn't take it any more. Just kidding, of course. I cut my wrist because I was using a bad nail-puller. It pulled through over the one finish nail head, and my wrist went onto the next finish nail head. the nail head punctured my skin, but the inertia of my wrist also meant that the nail head was to pull through about an inch of my skin before the wound delivery was over. Luckily, I avoided great injury, but it was in a bad place to heal on its own, and the three stitches have helped it heal nicely.

Health is a good thing. Thankfully Great Granny "New Knee" Carson is healing well. We look forward to seeing her in the Spring. As for the Idaho Becker family, I guess we'll see you in a few weeks!