Holly - Daze

I'm not quite sure what's going on but it looks like Christmas, it sounds like Christmas... it even smells like Christmas but it still seems way too laid back. I don't have an urgency with it this year. Usually by now I've baked a hundred cookies and sent them off in tins to their new homes. I have started - nay, finished - wrapping gifts and put them below the tree so a good two weeks work of dust can settle on them before packing them up and hauling them off to Virginia. Not so this year.

Julian administered his first of two exams this week and spent the entire day grading. I have become such a creature of habit, I didn't quite know what to do today without him here. Friday is usually a good rest day for us, aside from his morning meeting.

We have a wonderful tradition of going to Pittsburgh for a shopping day each Christmas, and we plan to do that on Monday. Maybe that will get my holiday juices going. We love going to Phipps Conservatory and during the holidays, it is a real treat. So we'll hit the Strip, Point Park, Phipps, Vincent's Pizza and a few other hot spots and I hope to have some wonderful pictures to share next week.  Stay tuned!