We bought a little Christmas tree at the exchange today. We were going to buy all the trimmings but I hesitated. The exchange can really be a rip off sometimes. We got a little 6.5' Charlie Brown looking tree for $39.99 - which isn't too bad, but when we went to figure out how to decorate it, we discovered that ornaments would end up costing us no less than $70, and ONE string of 200 clear lights would run us $20. $100 to trim a dinky little Christmas tree in ornaments and lights I don't really care that that much about just didn't feel right. I mean, I have a collection of meaningful Christmas decor back in the states in non-temporary-storage.

So the tree is bare. I put the gifts underneath it and that helped a little, but the branches are so green and empty and dark. So, I've been searching the web for good ideas on inexpensive Christmas decorations. I can work with this. I was considering doing popcorn and cranberries... But the cost of produce here is no joke, and I don't feel like having moldy cranberries hanging out on our Christmas tree. Plus this building is kind of old and gross and there is like a perpetual roach problem waiting to be stirred up. I don't want to give them a good reason to hang out in my living room, like popcorn on my Christmas tree.

So, I decided I MUST have this candy garland. It's a bunch of brightly wrapped junky candies STAPLED together! How awesome is that? I am super excited about it. I have a box full of staples. I just need the candy! So now I'm on a quest to find brightly colored candies and peppermints. And then I can put up colored lights, hang a bunch of candy canes and such from the branches and we'll be set. Amaris ends up trying to eat the ornaments anyways. Well, she did last year. I don't anticipate this year to be any different. She's no fool, she knows what candy canes are. We went to the Holiday Bazaar today and they were passing out candy canes. She cracked that thing open so fast I didn't even know what happened, and then she kept telling me - very matter-of-factly - that it was a "special candy". So I figure the lower 3' of branches on our Christmas tree will be bare anyways by the time we get to December 25. That's how it worked out last year!

So I'm excited. I have purpose again. I'm figuring it out.

I'm ready. I'm ready to have a Christmas tree up, lights on my balcony, and cocoa on the stove. The Santa cookie jar is out, the stockings are hung, and I've started wrapping presents. Oh - and the weather is finally not stiflingly hot - I wore a tank top today and it was not enough! I shivered! I didn't know I could shiver in Okinawa.

It's an exciting time.

Santa's coming to town! (And I hope I don't have to tell him how rotten Amaris has been lately! Hmpf!)

Mark's on duty tonight. He has our car. But I can see our parking spot from my window, and it is not empty.

Someone has commandeered our assigned parking stall, and it freaks me out. I mean, that's just weird. Who would park in my assigned parking spot? And why? And how long do they plan on leaving their silver minivan there?


My back hurts lately. And I'm tired. I'll be heading to bed soon. Amaris beat me there.

Dinner has been served, my day was spent cooking. We had a good meal, slightly distracted by Wheel of Fortune, but delicious nonetheless. The purple yams didn't work out - I got frustrated peeling them and after roasting them I had trouble mashing them, so I just threw them out. I'd have been the only one eating them anyways, so it wasn't a major loss. We still had way too much food.

I'm thankful for a lot of things. Trying to focus on the positive rather than the negative is not my strong suit, but this year I do have a lot to count myself lucky over.

I'm so fortunate. I have a beautiful daughter (and another on the way), a truly wonderful husband, a roof over my head, food on the table, and plenty to keep me warm (or cool, depending on the weather!) I'm being blessed with great opportunities all the time. My family "back home" is wonderful - my grandma is one of my very best friends, she and my mom raised me wonderfully (if I do say so myself) and I have countless other family members and friends that I know I can trust and rely on.

Life is good. Even though right now, my back is killing me and my feet are tired. (Trying not to focus on that, though, remember?)

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. :)

Thank you, oven. And thank you, shallow pie pan. You have both made my day a little hotter and more rotten. My left pinky and ring finger will NEVER forgive you.

I hope you know that. And I hope you're satisfied. For SHAME!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Not too terrible, but the feeling IS there.

I have my purple yams ready, and my white potatoes (because you can't find red ones here), and my green beans that I bought yesterday on a field trip to a local produce stand with my neighbor. I'm as ready as I'll ever be. The pumpkin bars are in the fridge, the cranberries are jelling.

Today I'll spend the afternoon baking pies and cookies, and before bed I'll wash and trim all of my vegetables. I'm thinking that I should have bought more carrots. The part that worries me most of all is keeping up with the dishes while I work, which I'm utterly terrible at.

I know that we're going to have entirely too much turkey, entirely not enough casserole dishes, and I'll end my Thursday tired and stuffed. No, not like a turkey. I don't stuff my turkeys. It freaks me out to put stuffing in that gaping raw body cavity.

We'll make it work. For the moment, I'm savoring the last few minutes of peace before Amaris wakes up (I'm estimating it'll be over with in approximately 14 minutes) and then it'll be off the computer chair for me, and into the kitchen to clean things up and get them ready for the marathon baking I'll be doing this afternoon. And to fold the last of the laundry. And to make the beds.

I've become so much more domestic than I ever dreamed I'd be.

I wish I'd taken a picture of all the laundry I just finished, before it was finished. You can't even understand the magnitude of this chore. And for someone who hates folding and putting away the laundry as much as I do, I feel like I did a pretty good job at setting my mind to it, sitting down and DOING it.

But now my back hurts and I'm tired. And my bed sheets are in the dryer.