Merry Christmas All Around?

Here's a picture of our Christmas tree early one morning, before the sun rose. There's one thing missing, though, since I took this picture while Gomez was MIA. Otherwise, there would be a kitten lurking underneath the tree.

I hope everyone had Merry Christmas-es, if you celebrate the holiday. If not, then hopefully you enjoyed the empty roads, restaurants, and movie theatres.

We had a good holiday, spread out over several days. We exchanged gifts with my family on Saturday, Sunday morning was our Christmas at home, and then we celebrated Christmas Eve and Day with Keith's family. Overall, it was a relaxing holiday, even with the driving.

I was very happy with our decision to exchange fewer presents between Keith and me, and save money for one big gift for us. The original plan was to get a gas fireplace. After talking to a contractor, we're not sure if that's still a possibility in our particular (rule-laden) city, and with our particular fireplace. That is pretty disappointing, but I'm sure we'll also have plenty of other places to spend money.

Keith's parents also gave us a Home Depot card, specifically because we said our next DIY project would be to build custom bookshelves to flank the fireplace. It's one of the things we've been wanting to do since we moved in, so we're excited to get started on those. Don't worry—I'm sure you'll be treated to many pictures!

New Year's Eve will also be a low-key event for us. Although the holidays have been great, I'm looking forward to returning to life as normal. And as soon as I figure out what that is, I'll let you know about that, too.