December

It just started raining, finally, after threatening all day (it's about 4 pm). Nice to get the moisture, but gosh it's gloomy out there. Our outside thermometer says 44 degrees. I think I'm going to wear my winter coat to pick up the twins!

I didn't get much done today, just housework -- which I don't think of as work, just as stuff that gets in my way. Perhaps that is the wrong attitude. Three loads of laundry, grocery shopping, made a big pot of soup, clipped coupons, and cleaned up the kitchen. No writing.

Christmas is rolling right along here in Ridgecrest, and we are participating. Even though we are facing eviction, we put up our tree. Here's Rocket Boy assembling it.

The tree is about 40 years old, I think, and we have to be very careful with it because the branches break easily. I wish we could have a "real" tree, but RB doesn't like to kill things, so having an old family heirloom fake tree seems like the next best thing.

We attended the annual Ridgecrest Christmas parade on Saturday. The parade started at 10 am, so at 9:50 we left our house and drove 2 miles to the corner of Ridgecrest Blvd and Norma St, where we found parking in a big vacant lot. Walked across the street and found a nice place to stand in front of the water building. A few minutes later we saw the first parade entry turn the corner onto Norma, and maybe 10 minutes later the parade was in front of us. Can't beat small town parades, that's for sure.

Many of the people in the parade hand out candy to the spectators, and the boos really cleaned up. They sat themselves down on the curb and munched. Rocket Boy said, "We should have brought a garbage bag!" as I stuffed wrapper after wrapper into my pocket.

The holiday parties are happening -- one last week and two this week, plus we have a special treat coming up next weekend. Then there's one more week at home and we're off to the Bay Area for our usual Christmas trip. I finally ordered our cards last night, so those will arrive in a few days and we'll need to start writing them. But yeah, it'll all get done.

Gosh, I just can't seem to get in the spirit, though. The holidays don't feel stressful in and of themselves this year -- I'm marching along, getting done what needs to be done, and enjoying the activities and (sigh) seasonal goodies. The stress I feel is all about wondering where we're going to live a month or two from now, what decision should we make. Should we stay longer in Ridgecrest? sign a new lease? Move somewhere else no matter where? Is it best to go back to Colorado or should we try to stay near family? So hard to know. I wish things could be just a little more settled.