salty

I really have got to post here more often! I just keep letting it get away from me!! Sorry all, please bear with me.

Well of course, the biggest recent news is the birth of our new nephew, Nathan’s sister Michelle’s first son, Macalister Joseph Flinn! He was born on Sunday, December 9th at 1:56 pm; 5 pounds, 13 ounces, and 18 3/4 inches long. He has a little blonde hair up top. Mac was amazing the first few hours we saw him - Nathan and I think he looked just like a little man, looking around at everyone. He is perfect! He had to be born by Cesarean section, which was a big surprise; he simply wasn’t going to drop, and the doctors told Michelle that it would have been a very difficult birth anyhow due to her body type. So that was scary for them - but she was perfectly healthy and seems to be doing very well. Mac is so beautiful and we can’t wait to see him again! Nathan and I are headed to Atlanta tomorrow afternoon for a couple days to celebrate Christmas with Michelle, Sean, and the baby. Here are a few photos from just hours after he was born:

Well! In other news, we are absolutely ready for Christmas. I think we are all done with shopping..Nathan and I are proud of how well we budgeted this year, what with our lack of extra cash these days..! hah! I am still working on sewing our stockings — I’m hand sewing them with sequins and beads on felt. I don’t have too much more to go, but it is a lot to get done by Christmas. I need to finish so Santa has somewhere to leave goodies for us! We are hosting Christmas Eve at our house this year. I’m very excited; I love Christmas Eve even more than Christmas Day. I’ll take some more pictures this week of the holiday decorations around the house…we’ve added lots since I last posted.

I am pretty depressed this year about being a “grown up” over the holidays with very little leave time that I can use for Christmas. Basically I’m using every bit I have to go to the Flinns’ this week (Thursday afternoon and Friday) but I think I will come in a bit on Sunday so that I can go home early Monday. (We “accrue” leave hours, and we are all “hourly” employees since we work on government contracts. When I got married, I had just started working and had to go in the hole with a lot of leave time. I just broke even at the beginning of December.) This will be the first year ever that I have not gotten any vacation time besides Christmas Day. It’s sad. I know, I know, “boo-hoo”…but everything is going to be *so* different this year from how it has always been. New traditions are good, and I’m excited to get up Christmas morning with Nathan, but it will be the first time ever not with my Mom and Dad in the morning! How strange. We are going over there for Christmas dinner, so that’s nice.

Well, no more sadness, not that I’m sad! I love this cold weather..I wish it would stay super chilly. I think it is supposed to cool off Christmas Eve…as it should!

I’ll write more soon. Very soon. I promise.