Less than Two Weeks

How can Christmas be less than two weeks away? Mr. Morgan and I finally sat down yesterday to talk about a Christmas budget and our ideas for Christmas presents. We had some time to ourselves Saturday afternoon because Mimi and Pops were here for the weekend to watch the kids for our mini vacation. We sat in Panera Bread (because of their free wireless) with both laptops as we ate lunch, talked about gift ideas, laughed at Mr. Morgan's jokes, and sent Amazon links to each other via chat. We made some progress, but we'll now need actually to purchase the gifts.

We finally decorated our Christmas tree on Friday night, which is much later than in other years. It sat in our front room for over a week with no lights or ornaments. What fun it was to have Dale and Deb here to help with the decorating. Dad's excellent at putting on the lights even for our prickly variety.

Mr. Morgan's contribution to Christmas decorating was setting Aol Radio to play delightful and fun holiday music through our stereo speakers. Hamilton most enjoyed Chuck Berry's Run, Run, Rudolph.

Mom has inspiring ideas for decorating the house, using what few festive pieces I have collected and making something special. Once I finish the displays, I'll post pictures. After the tree decorating was completed, Mom made us creamy hot cocoa topped with whipped cream.

Claire was super-excited this year to decorate our tree, and she was a big help.

Claire and Mr. Morgan set up the miniature train beside the tree, and she's had fun coloring the tiny road signs and playing with the village pieces. Hamilton, of course, is fascinated by the train and its progress around the short, oval track.