12.5.14 - December Happy

First of all, this is the time of year when I'm most grateful to live in California. Last summer was too brutal for my taste--many days that tipped over 100F--but the winter is so mild. It was snowing the morning we left CO, but here it's been in the low 60s with breezes and still lots of colorful leaves. It's also been raining a lot, which is hugely refreshing as California is still in a drought. I wouldn't mind if it "felt" more like Christmas time, but I also don't mind that I can walk around outside without even a jacket half the time and feel perfectly comfortable! I never have to scrape ice off of my car, shovel snow anywhere, or find something to cover my face so it doesn't hurt in outdoor air. I'm grateful for that.

Second, Jack and I finally went on a date night. Normally we try to go once a week, but in November we only went once the whole month. Our schedules are very busy and tend not to line up, which is the biggest problem, but sometimes even when we do both have time we are just too exhausted to go. So I was glad we finally went on Wednesday night.

We used a Groupon at a Thai place downtown. We don't normally pick Thai--in fact we even considered going to the Old Spaghetti Factory instead--but the Thai place was worth it! I got some kind of red curry eggplant chicken dish, and we split mango rice for dessert. Since it was a week night the place wasn't too busy, and we sat on the same side of the table as each other (facing the front door and away from the lone TV) and just took our time and relaxed. It was great. I'm trying to especially appreciate date nights now because I know they will only be more rare when Clara is born.

After we got home, Jack took down the (now too heavy for me) box of Christmas decorations and put up some lights and set up our little tree. While he did that, I strung a bunch of Christmas cards on red ribbon and then we hung those across our living room window. I love the way they look!

I also put up my homemade Christmas song lyric decorations. I made these about two years ago in the back of a classroom while bored, and looking back I think they were a great use of my time, haha.

Left-to-right: Baby Please Come Home, O Holy Night, and Carol of the Bells

Yesterday morning, before going into lab, I took some time and put our ornaments on the tree. They are almost entirely Jack's ornaments really--his family has a tradition of getting an ornament for each kid every year, and when Jack moved to CA his mom gave him a box of a bunch of his. I like them--I prefer Christmas trees with a hodge podge of homemade ornaments to Christmas trees with all coordinated orbs. Plus, as the years have gone on, the family has given us some joint ornaments!

I have to get up a couple times a night now, sometimes because I am too hungry to sleep. When I go to the kitchen to get a snack, it's so nice to see the glow of the Christmas lights. :)