Awake all night!

Yes, it's true! I haven't slept a wink all night! No reason that I know of, just couldn't drift off. So I shopped online and then wrote our holiday letter. And it's now morning, and I'm still wide awake. Mark is at his computer goofing off before he heads out to work. It's nice to have him around!

Thanksgiving was a treat! We entertained 12 relatives for 6 hours. Whew! Just a preliminary run for Mark's sending off party Saturday afternoon/evening. I'm not sure how we're going to hold more people. I guess we'll all just have to mingle instead of planting ourselves. I added chairs for the fam, maybe I'll have to get rid of chairs for the party? Can you tell I'm not used to entertaining?

And I'm supposed to be going easy on the holiday gift giving, due to our reduced income (ie, me not working), but I've not been doing a very good job in that department. I guess I have been going easier, but I still get way too many gifts for people! I just love to shop and holidays give me an excuse to shop! And I love finding things for people and anticipating the look on their face when they receive it. Some of my online shopping has been for my mother. She hasn't been able to find what she's looking for in stores, and gives her online shopping to me to do for her. I love spending money! Especially when it's other people's!

Seriously, I really have to do something about this addiction of mine. I know that giving is a good thing, but I think that I put way too much value on giving "things" rather than giving time and self. My quandry is that I feel as if I've boxed myself into giving lots of gifts. You know, that since I've always done it, I'm always expected to do it. And I like doing it, so it's a big, round, vicious circle of infinite proportions. I was hoping that by having a child that would be a good excuse to stop buying such elaborate gifts for everyone, but since we don't have a child yet, I can't use that one. Sounds like I need to take this one to God!

And speaking of God, I can't believe that Advent is soon upon us! I'm hoping to take time this Advent to really spend time with God, so that I can be excited about celebrating the birth of His Son and yet not be overly stressed about the fact that Mark will be leaving after the holidays. This is happening way too quickly for me, but I have yet to learn how to slow down time, so I've just got to go with the flow.