Baaahh.

When you're young you marvel at old people. You know, people who are thirty or older. You wonder how they got to be so weird; doing things like waking up early in the morning without an alarm clock, falling asleep while watching TV, going to bed by 9pm, eating gross things like fish and mushrooms and nuts, reading the obituaries, spending free time after work doing dishes or ironing or vacuuming rather than doing something fun, etc. Then you reach the ripe old age of thirty and you realize that you are that old person! You're up each morning by 7:30 because you just "naturally wake up." Even if you're not in bed by 9pm you wish you were. And you find yourself ordering the bags of mixed nuts from your aunt's church fundraiser instead of the bags of gummy bears because suddenly, without warning, you actually like nuts (and you eat mushrooms even if you don't like them because you know you should).

Who are you? How did you get to be this person? What happens when you hit that magical age of thirty? I've noticed that over the past few years I've been going through these changes myself. My tastes have changed. My sleeping habits have changed. My priorities have changed. And my metabolism has changed.

A couple of examples of these changes:

1. I am now interested in things like natural, homeopathic remedies for healthy living and am more inclined to believe in astrological signs and symbols than I was even five years ago. I'm very keen to find the right homeopathic remedy to my over-anxious temperament, my stomach and digestive woes, and my other "ailments." I have been going to my homeopathic doctor for almost two years now (whoa) and am still soldiering on with finding the right essence to give me the improved quality of life that I want. (Now we're trying out the essence of the naja snake family, and putting any bit - even if it's not even a real bit - of a snake in me would have been unthinkable years ago.) And I am open-minded to certain astrological belief systems like the Chinese zodiac. I learned on Friday that I am a goat in the Chinese zodiac calendar - specifically an earth goat - and the description of the goat (in some circles the sheep) is just about spot-on. I'm eager to learn more about goats and Chinese astrology (and Eastern philosophies), and really could have cared less about this kind of stuff before.

(Thank you to Taking Back Tiffany for the goat photo.)

2. My diet and nutrition has become an almost-obsession, and this is probably linked to the fact that my metabolism has clearly changed. I have never been thin, or what I would consider skinny, and I have at various times of my life been what I consider "pleasingly plump." But my weight would fluctuate, and I could control it. If I ate a lot of sweets and breads, which I love, then I would get heavier. If I wanted to lose weight I could, just by cutting down the amount of food I ate, or by kicking my exercise regimen into high gear. Now, not so much. I trained so hard for the 5K in November and December, burning so many calories and not eating much more to compensate, and yet am still weighing in at a number I haven't seen in many years. Hence the Weight Watchers thing. And hence the obsession with vegetarianism, veganism, and cookbooks and recipes. As I write this, Doug is reading to me from Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet, because I am eager to learn more about how this healthy way of living might work for me. When in Florida with Jipty and Chris it seemed so natural to follow a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle when we were in the timeshare cooking meals for ourselves, but when we went out to dinner it seemed... mostly inconvenient. You can't just go to any restaurant and expect that there will be food there that you can eat. I didn't think I would be able to put up with that. I like convenience. But now that I am on Weight Watchers (sort of) and I know that I want to be healthy, and now that I'm learning that maybe a plant-based diet would render my snake and spider and whatever-other-kind-of-creepy-creature remedies unnecessary, maybe I can put up with that inconvenience.

So what is it about this aging thing? Do our habits really change as much as it seems they do as we get older? And don't people become more conservative and less open-minded as they age? I seem to be doing the opposite, but I'm not necessarily complaining, at least about these particular changes. The falling asleep while watching TV (or, worse, falling asleep while in the warm, dark movie theater...), well, that I wholeheartedly complain about and curse the aging process for hitting me with this one so early.

Fun and food.

It snowed yesterday and it's snowing again today. This is what greeted me when I walked out of the front door this morning to pick up the newspaper from the front step:

I'm not really complaining about the snowy scene this morning because it is January 21 and this is the first time we've had any snow cover, or any lasting snow cover, and we haven't had to bust out the shovels just yet (though we may have to today). But I am complaining just a little bit, because it was not that long ago - just last week as a matter of fact - that we were still in Florida.

Florida! My experience with Florida has been minimal, limited to a trip I don't remember (only through photos) when I was probably 4 years old to my grandparents' place near Naples; a trip to Disney World when I was about 8 years old; and a fleeting trip to Disney World with my high school band, sophomore year (I think?). We flew into Fort Lauderdale this time to spend some time in the warmth with our friends Jipty, Chris, and their son Ely, and even though we stayed for only three full days I feel like I got to know Florida a lot better. And I liked what I saw (even with all the gray-haireds!). So did Doug. We're on a south Florida kick now in our house.

What did we see? Here's the usual photo montage of our trip.

At Everglades Holiday Park we took an air boat ride in the Everglades. We saw... a few birds, a couple of large lizards, and some alligator eyes poking out from some weeds. We'd have seen more if it was sunny. Still, it was fun.

We went to the beach and we actually SWAM! (Or, at least went into the water. In January!) The water was clear, the sun was out (and we have little patches of tanned skin to prove it), and the sand was soft. It was a great beach trip.

We saw lots of strange birds; strange because none of them live in New England, save the gull. This little guy was everywhere, and he's native to Florida. We affectionately call him the turkey duck.

Pelicans, too. We saw real pelicans at the beach, just hanging out in the wild. How amazing! Here are a couple relaxing with their cormorant friends on the beach in Key Biscayne. (The sand was so very soft here, too. I could have sat on the beach for hours.)

We got to spend more time with Ely, who we only see once or twice a year, so his development between visits astounds us. He is such a polite boy, and really, very well-behaved. You can have conversations with him - with full sentences! Fun ones. The ones we were having usually involved some reference to Toy Story, but that was fine with us. We had fun with him.

We went to Bill Baggs State Park and saw this fine example of a non-New England lighthouse, the first either Doug or I had seen. Naturally we were impressed, and all the palm trees and clear, green water helped.

At the park we decided to rent this bicycle-built-for-four, and what fun! Ely didn't do any pedaling, but he enjoyed being in the front seat and telling us where to go. Doug got to steer. I liked getting the exercise and didn't mind the stares we got from the other park-goers. They were just jealous they didn't think to rent one of these things!

And, of course, we spent some time in Miami Beach, walking along Ocean Drive, and got a taste of what it might be like there in Spring Break or in the height of the season. We ate at one of Gloria Estefan's restaurants, and while there wasn't much for non-meat eaters to enjoy on the menu (though the friend yuca was very good - better than french fries, I think), we still had a good time.

Doug and I could have spent a lot more time in south Florida, exploring Miami, revisiting the Everglades, driving to the Keys, and just spending time on the beach or at the pool. We hope Jipty, Chris, and Ely want to go away with us again next winter, because we'd go back in a flash. And maybe by then we'll all have to be on the look-out for the non-meat restaurants.

Jipty and Chris (and Ely, too) are vegan now. Have been so for a while. And this means that eating out can be a little difficult. No meat and no dairy. You'd be surprised how many restaurants have few options for this kind of diet. At Lario's on the Beach there was a vegetarian platter (the black beans were vegetarian, so that was good), but that was it. That was the only option for them. Everything else had meat - because who knew that Cuban food was such a meat-centered cuisine? After spending time with Jipty and Chris and learning more about veganism and plant-based diets, and seeing for ourselves how much healthier they are since they have had this vegan lifestyle, I began to be converted. Just a little bit.

Doug and I don't eat a lot of meat. In fact, we really only cook meat once a week if that. In the past few years I have incorporated more vegetarian meals into our diets than meat-based meals. Listening to them and learning about how much better they feel on their vegan diet made me all the more convinced that we need more plants and grains in our diet. Plus, fruits and vegetables are 0 points in Weight Watchers Points Plus system, so I can eat all of them that I want (more on this Weight Watchers thing in another post).

So now I am obsessed with healthier eating. I'm reading recipes and looking at cookbooks each chance I get. I've found two that I'm particularly excited about

(during the big Patriots-Ravens football game tomorrow we'll be enjoying acorn squash and black bean empanadas instead of buffalo wings), but am always interested in recommendations. I am keen on adding a Mexican and Indian cookbook to my collection. We are not giving up on meat (or fish) entirely, but we are certainly focusing more of our attention on plants.

With that, it's time for the gym - healthy living can't just be based in the kitchen.

First three things.

Three things! The first three things post of 2012! I'm carrying over a theme from last year, like continuing with a New Year's resolution. Consistency and routine is the name of the survival game; it's going to be what keeps my blog going.

Thing #1: Film

We saw two movies on Saturday, one right after the other. The first was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Who could say no to over two and a half hours of Daniel Craig? He did not disappoint, but he was a little more covered up in most of it than I would have liked. Wish I could have said that about the girl with the dragon tattoo. There was something about her naked body that bothered me. It was so incredibly thin, and there was this muscle that stretched across the length of her ribcage that you could see contracting. It was disturbing. Actually, there were many things that were disturbing about the movie, but not necessarily all in a bad way. I thought the use of disturbing scenes was effective, and if you're looking for an action thriller then you could spend your time watching a worse movie.

We also saw The Artist. This movie was a sweet little film that was clever and visually impressive, but ultimately, for me, a little light; a little fluffy. Maybe it just seemed that way because I had just spent a couple of hours watching a somewhat violent drama, but nevertheless I liked this film. I don't like silent movies as a rule, but this one held my attention. The well-trained dog helped quite a bit.

Thing #2: Vampires and Werewolves

I can't even begin to count how many pages of vampire and werewolf melodrama that I have read over the past couple of weeks. It started the week after Christmas when I plowed through New Moon in two days (how glorious it is to spend two days reading!). Because the book went so quickly and because the story is so enticing despite the frustration I feel at the utter simplicity of the writing and character development, I immediately went to my local public library and checked out the final two books in the saga. I devoured the third one with almost as much speed, but because work and routine are getting in the way again, my progress on the fourth book is somewhat less speedy.

The series, as I said, is enticing and gripping in the way soap operas tend to be, but also as I said, I am just so frustrated at the flat emotional output that I have when I read the books. So what does this mean? It means that there is only so much sparkle and so many tortured vampire looks that I can take. I have reached saturation, but will finish the book and the series - can't give up with only one hundred and fifty pages to go!

Thing #3: Weight Watchers

And yes, my third thing to write about is Weight Watchers. I joined Weight Watchers at Work, which is Weight Watchers but with meetings held at the workplace. The informational meeting was this past Friday, and our first meeting is this coming Friday. I won't be around for the first meeting, where we have our initial weigh-in, set our goal weights, and determine what our daily point allowance will be (so I'll be a week behind everyone else), but at least I've paid my monthly dues. That's a start.

Why join Weight Watchers, you may ask? Well, I asked myself that same question as I looked around the room of easily forty women (and a couple of men!) and felt like the smallest person in the room. But this is not necessarily about weight for me, though I would be lying if I said that I didn't want to lose a few pounds. This is about re-establishing a healthy relationship with food for me. In my last post I mentioned that I had put on a few pounds since Wyatt died, and that's true. For the past year and a half I have been trying to eat my emotions (as if happiness or contentment really does live in a bag of potato chips). Emotional eating has never really been my thing and I don't like it, but I'm at the point that I don't really know how to stop it. I eat well for a few days and then have one chip or one French fry, or one cookie, and bam! The whole bag is gone. So I'm hoping Jennifer Hudson and Charles Barkley can support and encourage me in ways that I don't seem to be able to do for myself.

So yes. Three things. Movies, books, and food. That's my life, people, all right there in those three things.

Thoughts for a new year.

My first post of 2012 was going to be about a realization I came to a few days ago. A light-bulb moment. The realization hit me when I was on the elliptical machine one morning. I realized that I have three very strong personality traits, all of which start with B, and all of which are quite shameful. I admit it. More often than not, I am 1) bitchy, 2) bratty, and 3) bullying. Am I being a little hard on myself? Ask my mother that when I chastise her in front of my father's family at Christmas for overfilling the take-home containers with pie such that the covers would squish them and make them "unpresentable." Or ask Doug that question when I fly through the bedroom at 8am with way too much energy, like a tornado, grabbing my sneakers and exercise clothes to head for the gym, all the while chiding him for being lazy (because he's still in bed, god forbid). And these are just two very recent examples. So I would say no; I am not being hard on myself. Just honest.

But what would really be achieved by spending a whole post on these three Bs? Just a lot of belly-aching from me about how I'm not my ideal self. That in and of itself (belly-aching about not being my ideal self) is not a wholly unpleasant topic and is one I often dwell on, but today I'd rather spend my time and energy on another topic. Let's talk about things to look forward to in the upcoming year. Christmas and New Year's a behind us; 2012 is underway (I've successfully written 2012 on three checks so far!). Let's focus on the good stuff before we face the end of the world.

Sherman is doing much, much better with his scratching. The prednisone is helping, thanks to Doug's determination to get the little pills down his throat. It is true that Sherman still scratches and breaks the skin, leaving crusty scabs and patches on his ear and neck that are completely hairless, but overall he is doing so much better than he was even a month ago. He has gone days without his cone. And just today I saw him touch noses with Meg before she let out the death growl! This is a Christmas miracle! Maybe 2012 will be the year of cat harmony in our household.

Doug and I (and possibly my mother and brother) plan to go away sometime in May. A trip! Involving a plane! For more than two nights! I am very excited about this and so is Doug. Last night I started doing a little research into places to go. At first we had our sights set on Europe but based on ticket prices I think we're going to stay domestic. Over $1100 to fly to Berlin? Close to $1000 to fly to Paris? And $800 to fly to London! Iceland was our only relatively inexpensive European option, at a little over $600/pp/round trip, but Doug's not all that keen on it, mostly because of the cost. Neither am I, really, and mostly because of the cost. Maybe I'm getting cheap in my old age, or maybe just more practical, but when I think about spending most of my waking life at work and sloughing through the days there, I think much longer and harder about how I spend my money. Spending a few days in San Francisco and then a few days in one of the Redwood National Parks would be fun. We've never been to Northern California. Or exploring the national parks of southern Utah - we haven't been to the Southwest, either. Or maybe 2012 is the year that we visit Seattle and Portland! We always say we want to go there, and we could see Rod and Tina. The funny thing about "settling" for domestic travel is that we really haven't narrowed our choices by much. I want to go everywhere. I am still overwhelmed by the possibilities.

But how wonderful it is to have possibilities! Yesterday I got side-tracked by looking through all the photos that we had taken in the past few years while I was transferring the files from the desktop to DVR discs. I was simply shocked by all the things that we have filled our life with. We've documented so much of our life, which makes me realize that every day we are doing something no matter how mundane or tiresome the days can feel. There were photos of our move to the house, photos of the many meals that we have made in our kitchen, photos of day trips and vacations and times away from the house, and photos of family and friends and friends' babies and friends' pets. When you do a mini-retrospective like that you realize so many things are possible.

I learned, too, by looking through these photos, that it's possible that Wyatt's death had a profound impact on our lives and for much longer than we originally thought. In looking through the photos from 2010, I can see how we felt his loss each day. The pictures of us and our life were very different post-loss than they were when he was still with us. Doug lost a lot of weight after Wyatt died, and I started to gain a fair amount of weight after Wyatt died. We looked different in other ways, too. Doug looked paler. My hair looked stringier. We also entered our professional crisis period, with me leaving my corporate job and Doug leaving his job. There was definitely a dark cloud above our house for that latter half of 2010, and really for the vast majority of 2011. But the final couple of months or so of 2011 have felt better. The cloud is moving on. The fog is lifting. Maybe Sherman has helped us. Maybe therpay has helped us. Regardless, we are seeing the possibilities now and it feels like a much better way to be. We look forward to 2012 because we know now that we can face difficult times and come through to feel the sun on our faces and breathe the fresh air on the other side of the void, but also, and quite possibly more importantly, because we have this one cat, this one soft cat in the photo below, who, regardless of year or season or mental state of her owners, is just the most photogenic cat ever and she makes us happy.*

*Much of the time.

Wrapping up.

So, we leave 2011 behind in just a few hours. I don't tend to be nostalgic for the passing year, so I will not post about what I liked in 2011 and what I didn't like, or what resolutions I had and didn't keep or that I had and did keep, etc., etc. Let's just catch up on how 2011 ended, which was with a nice holiday bang.

The Christmas holiday for me and Doug now goes like this:

We wake up somewhat early on Christmas Eve morning and get ready for our Connecticut Christmas. Once everything is packed up and the cats are fed and watered, we spend some time around our tree and exchange the gifts we got each other. This is one of my favorite parts of the holiday, because it's the one I'm most awake for. I haven't yet stuffed myself silly with any of the holiday goodies that await down I-84. Plus, I like watching Doug open the gifts that I get him. I try to put thought into what he gets, for at least one of his gifts. He has stand-bys, like socks, t-shirts, underwear, and also sweaters, but I like to throw in at least one "surprise." This year it was Slowhand on vinyl.

With the new furniture arrangement (couch downstairs in basement along with TV, and record player set up in living room where TV was), we have been listening to our record player like we never have before. As a matter of fact, before we moved the couch and TV downstairs to the basement we were trying to sell the record player. We didn't think that we liked it (too much like a DJ turntable), not to mention the fact that we never listened to it. But now we listen to it quite regularly and are amassing quite the collection of classic rock albums, which sound fantastic on vinyl. Slowhand is the poster-child for this. We heard my father's copy of this album at my uncle's house in New Hampshire this past Labor Day weekend and it had such a great sound on vinyl. Doug is normally not an Eric Clapton fan, but the vinyl won him over. He talked often of the quality of that album since we heard it in New Hampshire, so I tracked down a copy. Slowly but surely we are creating for ourselves a nice library of Eric Clapton albums and are really enjoying what we are hearing.

Okay, so I surprise Doug with at least one gift that requires a little thought and creativity on my part, and Doug does the same for me. This year it was a necklace. Good job, Doug!

Once we open our gifts and give the cats one last pat good-bye, we pile in the car with all of our Christmas CDs and make the drive down to CT. This awaits us chez Sisko:

As does this:

And this:

We never forget to sing "Happy Birthday" to Doug. This year his birthday cake was a carrot cake. Whatever bakery the Siskos go to down there in Fairfield County certainly does cakes well. This cake was so moist and not sweet at all. Which reminds me - we still have some in our refrigerator. Yay! Cake tonight after Doug's homemade meatballs.

Anyway, once we celebrate well with the Siskos we head an hour north and visit with the Sheridans. This year my father, my aunt Mary, her husband Fred, and Doug jammed on their acoustics. I think that this was the first year that Doug played with them. I'm glad he did - they sounded good, and I think that the older folk are excited to play with Doug. He's in a band, after all. He's Doug Sisko, Guitar Guy. Rocker. Cool City Dude. All very impressive.

Once the family jam was over, which just may become a new Sheridan Christmas tradition, we headed over to my parents' house to spend the rest of the evening around their Christmas tree exchanging gifts with my mother, father and brother. My brother is notoriously difficult to buy for, so much so that it is a topic of conversation between me and just about every member of my immediate family in the weeks leading up to Christmas. What to get for Brian? We never have any idea. He already has his New Yorker subscription. He really doesn't need or want anything else. Really. So for the past few years I've been getting him artsy-type gifts. One year was a set of ceramic owls. One year was a Monet doll standing at an easel. This year I decided to make him a stupid sock creature (see previous post), and I think he liked it.

Then, once we all start to fall asleep on the floor surrounded by wrapping paper bits, we call it a night. Doug and I make our way back to Massachusetts the day after Christmas and get back to our regular routines. The holidays are essentially over. We tend not to do anything too thrilling for New Year's, mostly because we are tired from all the birthday and Christmas activities in December. This year is no exception. We got a bottle of champagne for Christmas so we decided to stay in and have some of it. Doug's making some meatballs, we'll cook up some cocktail weenies, we'll sit on our couch and reflect on the year that's ending and talk about things to look forward to in the new year, and, if we are lucky enough to be awake, will clink our (champagne) glasses at midnight. Sounds truly wonderful to me. I smell the meatballs cooking now. It just may be time to go out and pop that cork early!

Mostly good.

When I was thinking about what to post about today, I thought that I would list the good and the not-so-good things that have been happening lately. The only problem is that there have been mostly good things happening lately. Mostly. The post will be a little lop-sided.

Let's get the not-so-good out of the way so that we can focus on the good stuff, shall we?

It's not-so-good that I:

- am feeling anxious about work 70% of the time (has mostly to do with work politics, which I decidedly do not like)

- keep going over my texting limit on my phone plan

- keep forgetting to email people back... I am usually so good about emailing people back

- and seem to have regressed in the kitchen when it comes to baking, though this last kitchen disaster didn't have much to do with baking and was more of an equipment malfunction

Other than that, things are great. Really! Please observe:

- We got a visit from friends, and the cutest, littlest Santa was just adorable as usual.

- I have been sewing up a storm, branching out to include aprons

and more stupid sock creatures in my repertoire.

- I ran the Cambridge 5K Yulefest in a better time than I ever would have thought (placed 458 out of 813 finishers!). No walking for me. I ran the whole way and even passed people! I think it was the ungodly cold air that was propelling me - the thought of a hot cup of tea never left my mind.

- And then of course there was Doug's birthday. On the 16th we celebrated with a dinner out and some cupcakes from Sweet.

- Then, when Doug's fellow birthday-celebrator came on the 17th, we had some more cupcakes.

- Christmas celebrations are in full swing, as evidenced by my sister's family and my mother, father, and brother coming to celebrate with us. It was certainly a good day, and not just because of the wonderful array of desserts (the thumbprint cookies made post-Kitchen Aid mixer disaster, so mad props to me for picking it up, cleaning it off, putting it back together, and moving on as if it never happened). Smiles were had all around!

- Lastly, Doug, eager to try out his Christmas gift, cooked us a fine-tasting roast and carved it up for dinner last night.

Not too bad, right? Really pretty good. December has been a great month overall, and I'm looking forward to these last two weeks of it. This week brings more Christmas record-playing and Christmas gift wrapping, and another birthday celebration for Doug on Friday before we spend the holiday weekend with family. Then there's next week. Next week I have off from work and I am spending it holed up in the house wearing my new fleece pajamas and reading all the books I've been getting from the library (I should not be allowed to shelve - I do the one-for-the-shelf-one-for-me trick, which is not good for my to-read list). But don't even try to tell me that I can't finish White Teeth and read The Influencing Machine, The Lost Continent, Bossypants, Blankets, and New Moon in one week. I ran a 5K, after all. That says world domination right there.

The most wonderful time of the year.

I love this time of year. I really do. I think it's my favorite time of year (though summer, because of the sun, the warmth, and, most of all, the beach, is a very, very, very close second). From Thanksgiving until New Year's it's non-stop excitement and fun. And food!

This is a little of what I mean:

Thing 1: Thanksgiving

Doug and I hosted Thanksgiving this year, as you know. We'd happily do it again, too. What fun! I really liked picking out all of the recipes and gathering all the ingredients. And cooking it. I had a lot more fun cooking the dinner than I thought that I would. I was able to time everything well so that it was all ready at once, which was something that I was worried about. But it all came out great.

Doug was in charge of the turkey and he took great pride in his bird.

We upgraded to a 19-lb turkey because we thought we would not have enough with the 15-pounder, but 15-lbs would have been fine. As would have fewer brussels sprouts.

That's only 2/3rds of the brussels sprouts that we shredded to saute with shallots and a little white wine vinegar. The more brussels sprouts the better, though, because I have learned to love the little cabbages (and I never in a million years would have expected to say that).

So this Thanksgiving I was thankful for friends and family, no kitchen mishaps, and the chance to finally use all of the dinnerware that we got for our wedding (some of which had never been unwrapped!). I look forward to more Dedham Thanksgivings.

Thing 2: Our Nation's Capital

This year I was also thankful for our somewhat impromptu trip to Washington D.C. and Alexandria. Doug was recently in Alexandria and D.C. for work and I didn't get to go with him, so we decided to head down there for a few nights. True to form, we crammed a lot in to our short time there, like:

The new MLK Memorial, which leaves you speechless for a variety of reasons:

The National Gallery of Art, which had a nice, though small, collection of 20th century American art:

Arlington National Cemetery, at which we were able to see the JFK burial site, eternal flame, and the graves of Robert and Ted Kennedy. That was pretty moving (but I didn't take photos because it somehow felt wrong to photograph their resting place).

And historic Alexandria,VA, which is just absolutely bursting with history.

I'd be telling a lie if I said that Doug and I didn't think about moving there at least a few times during our trip, but I will happily report that this is the first time that Doug and I didn't frantically search real estate listings and job ads when we came back home. We really liked it there and could see ourselves living there, but that obsessive-compulsive need to leave our home and all of our troubles behind was distinctly lacking this trip. That was a vacation in and of itself.

Thing 3: Christmas

We came back from D.C. and suddenly Christmas was upon us. The neighbors had begun to put lights up around their houses, Christmas music had taken over the radio, and the tree was lit in Dedham Square.

This, of course, meant that it was high time that we put up our own tree, so this past Friday night we got the tree and decorations down from the attic and decorated.

The white tree has grown on me. I like how it looks. I do miss the Christmas tree smell in the house, though, and we are out of balsam fir candles. This coupled with the fact that Sherman thought that the tree was a giant chew toy when we first put it up might make us consider throwing a real tree into the Christmas tree mix some years. But for now this is what we have, and I have been dying to turn down the room lights, put on the tree, and sit and read. That's my idea of a good and relaxing holiday evening!