it's sneaking up

I've never really bought into the thought that Christmas just sneaks up on you. Hellooo! It's always always on December 25. But I get it now. This month has flown by and Christmas is now less than a week away. I haven't even put up any Christmas decorations! And I won't now because we're leaving on Friday for my parent's house. And really, the time did just get away from me.

Let's see. On the first weekend of December, well, I don't remember the Saturday but on the Sunday we went to Pocatello to pick T up from his grandparent's house.

The second weekend those grandparents were here in SLC and a merry time was had by all.

The third weekend was last weekend. I shopped and wrapped and created and then the weekend was done.

Forget doing much during the week. There are precious few hours between getting home from work and going to bed. That's the time for cooking and relaxing, maybe with a little TV or computer-for-fun time (as opposed to computer-for-work time).

So, no decorations at the Casa de RedRed. My friend B told me that he felt sorry for me. Sorry that I didn't have any decorations up and sorry that I didn't seem to care. I do care. And just because I don't have any decorations up doesn't mean I don't have the Christmas spirit. I do. I really like Christmas. What I like about it the most is hanging out with people I love and I am excited to spend this holiday with my parents, T and MT. I'll really miss my sister who is in the southeastern U.S. with her sweetheart's family. I will get to see my aunts and uncles who I don't see very often, plus hopefully my cousin, his wife and their baby.

A bonus for Christmas this year - I will see my college roommate, Reg, who I haven't seen for many years! She and her family live in Montana, but they will be Christmasing with Scott's family in southern Cal. We're planning to meet up for lunch on Christmas Eve. I am so stoked about this!

Last night was very fun. Four of my co-workers/friends and our significant others went out for dinner and to the theatre. Dinner was at Ruth's Chris. It was delicious. I had the bone-in rib eye steak. MMMMM. For dessert I had the chocolate duel and it was incredible: warm chocolate cake with chocolate ganache in the center. Pair it with a little sweet cream...ooh. Yum.

After dinner we went to Hale Center Theatre to see A Christmas Carol. What a neat place. I'm looking forward to seeing more plays there. It is an intimate theatre and plays are presented in-the-round. The presentation of A Christmas Carol is an annual thing, like Ballet West with The Nutcracker. Add this to my holiday tradition list. It was great and I really enjoyed the performance. Next year I have to get up to Heber to ride the Polar Express!

Today was great too because I had the opportunity to go to T's school to watch the Christmas sing-along. It was the first time I've been. They don't send notes to the parents because with all the kids in there, it doesn't leave a lot of room for the parents. T told me about it yesterday, and I was happy to be able to go. (Thanks Kelsie!) T's class sang Jingle Bell Rock. They were good. All the grades sang a different song and there were a couple of sing-alongs for everyone. The assembly ended with a clown (ewww) who was supposed to be sort of a Who, like in the Grinch. The Grinch also made a cameo but was chased away by the clown Who. That wasn't my favorite. I did like the singing children. Their voices are so cute, especially the kindergarten and first graders. The best, of course, was the 4th grade!