It's Been a While

It's been a little while since I've last blogged . . . perhaps not as long a drought as some other bloggers, but for a newbie like me, it seems like a long time. I've been so busy with work lately, it's been quite crazy. At the end of last week, the Staples computer system went down across North America, the result of which was that a whole lot of product piled up in the warehouse over a period of a day and a half, without being received. When the system came back up again Friday afternoon two hours before I was supposed to be done work I wasn't terribly impressed, and this week will be busier than normal because of the back-log. I am SO happy that I have Thursday and Friday off, you have no idea.
On Saturday, Mike and I went out and picked out our very first Christmas tree. It is interesting trying to combine two different ideas of Christmas traditions. I've grown up looking forward to the last day of school, because Dad and Mom would pick us up from school at noon and we would go, all bundled up in our snowsuits and boots, trudging out to the Christmas tree farm (usually Klaas' out by Rockton). There we would spend a good hour or two at least running from tree to snow-covered tree, trying to pick the very best one and then trying to convince the rest of the family that that tree was indeed the very best one. Then Dad would saw it down with the old red bowsaw and we would "help" him to drag it back to the van and tie it onto the roof with copious amounts of rope. Once the tree was set up in the living room with the lights and the decorations, it always smelled so good. Christmas tree scent is, to me, a very important part of feeling Christmas-y.
For Mike, the Christmas tree tradition was a little different . . . I imagine Mom or Dad would announce that it was time for the tree to be set up, and then all the kids would race downstairs and unpack whatever cupboard the tree happened to be stored in. All the parts and boxes would be dragged up the stairs and the tree would be assembled in the living room and then decorated with the familiar lights and decorations, and topped with a lighted angel. No needles to clean up, and no snowy footprints down the hall.
I just can't swallow the idea of having an artificial tree.
We went half-way (well maybe more my way) and chose a live tree from Home Depot. Perhaps a little bit cheating on the tradition side, but I can forget about that and just enjoy the cheery smell of pine tree and the cozy-ness of Christmas lights glowing in our little apartment. I took some pictures with Lauren's digital camera, but they will be a little while in coming as I have to download them from her.
Anyways.
Something somewhat gross and embarassing: I was cleaning out the fridge the other day and I found a small and quite forgotten container in the back corner. Perhaps it would be sad for some people to discard something which has been around for more than half of your marriage, but in this case, I wasn't too upset to throw away the kidney beans and their container, which had been hiding out since August 17, at least according to the label. Four month old kidney beans smell really, really disgusting, in case you were ever wondering . . .
Don't worry, our house is usually fairly clean . . .