MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I cannot believe that it's Christmas time already! It's been a few weeks since I've done a blog so this is going to be a combination blog.....a long one. The past few weeks have been pretty busy for us. We've closed and moved into our new house here in Scarborough. We had a lot of help and managed to get everything loaded and unloaded from the truck in record time. I would say that we are 3/4 unpacked at this point. I have nothing on the walls because we're going to paint two rooms so I'm holding off on it all. I like to think about things before I do them so I'll unpack all of the pictures and set them out to look at them for a few days before I make any decisions on what will be going where. Our friends and family have been great in helping us with our move and of course all of their love and support over these past few months. I know I've said it before but we could not have done it without them. It seems like since we've moved in, we haven't had a minute to breathe. After working all day, it's tough to come home and fix dinner, do laundry and all of the other usual stuff and then have multiple boxes to still unpack. Our weekends have been filled so far. We are hoping to get a lot done this weekend and then we'll be hosting Christmas Eve for my family here on Sunday evening. This Christmas will be different for us than the past few years have been. We won't be traveling to get home to Maine! It's nice to be back home but it will be nicer when the holidays have passed and life gets a little boring. I don't think that will happen anytime soon for us but I'm still looking forward to it. Life is very busy for us right now but it's nice to be back home. I still catch myself thinking "how the hell did we manage to get back here" and it seems like yesterday that I was so homesick and wanting to be back in Maine. I never thought I'd have to adjust to life back in Maine but between working outside of the house and moving to yet another house, it is taking some adjustment. I'm sure that by the time spring rolls around, we'll be settled into somewhat of a routine.

We had quite a scare last week.....my brother Stephen had not been feeling well for a few weeks. He called Dana and Ann to let them know how he'd been feeling on Thursday night. They went over and took him to the hospital. After running tests, they determined that he had a collapsed lung. They figured it had been collapsed for quite some time and admitted him so that they could re-inflate his lung. Dana, being the loyal brother that he is, spent the night in the chair next to Stephen's hospital bed. Now that's what family is all about!!!! They inserted a chest tube....now for those of you who know Stephen, that is huge! It's quite a painful procedure and for someone who doesn't like needles, he did pretty well overall. Thankfully, it took less time than they first anticipated to re-inflate his lung and he was able to go home on Saturday. He's taking it easy for a couple of weeks. Let's hope he follows their advice and gets back to being his old self soon! Just another thing to be thankful for this year.

I wanted to post more pictures but I guess I'm limited......I'll keep going though:

On Saturday, Melissa and I went to see the Magic of Christmas at Merrill Auditorium. Deidre and Dave's daughter Nicole sang in the chorus. I love seeing that show and try to go every year. It helps put you in the Christmas spirit. I find it relaxing. I guess Danny doesn't feel the same way about it which is why Melissa went with me instead of my original date. I had a good time but I found myself only watching Nicole the whole time though! Even though we were in the nosebleed section, I think Nicole did a great job! I even managed to get Melissa to sing a couple of songs during the sing along portion. I think she enjoyed it. She and I had a good time together.

Saturday was also Tiffany's 27th birthday! She got a wrap for her engagement ring which she has wanted for quite some time now.....she's a lucky girl being married to one of the best men on the face of the earth! Danny, Melissa and I went to dinner with Tiff and her parents, her sister and her sister's fiance (oops....or soon to be). She got many nice gifts from everyone. She's such a good girl and we love her a lot! Happy 27th Tiff.

I think the new year will certainly be an interesting one for us. I'm determined to spend some much needed time with people who we haven't been able to see or visit with yet. I'd like to spend some time with my extended family too. Things should settle down and we'll be able to enjoy our time more. Having our pool will keep us busy this summer too. Danny is staying busy with his new job. He's been traveling quite a bit in the last two weeks but hopefully that will slow down a little bit. For those of you wondering.....YES, he still likes his job. He has no desire to go back to hell. We are quite content right where we are in our lives. We don't have everything we had before but in many ways we have even more. As they say...."Money can't buy happiness". I can honestly say that's true in our case. Life is a learn as you go game. Stay tuned....there are new things on the job horizon for me in the new year.....I'll post more about it later next week.

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!