One week

I cannot believe Christmas is a week from today! December has gone by so fast. It seems there's never enough time to do all of the "Christmasy" things I want to do. Maybe this is why people start celebrating right after Halloween! I really wanted to bake sugar cookies this year because it was so fun last year. I don't think that's going to happen, though. Darby and I are going to Indianapolis this weekend (which I'm really excited about; it just doesn't leave much time for cookie baking). However, instead of thinking about all the things I didn't get to do, I'm going to be thankful for the things I did do.

1. Admired the Christmas tree. Darby's really good about remembering to plug the lights in, so we look at it every morning and every night.
2. Went to 3 Christmas parties—one for Darby's lab, one for our college group at church, and at our friends' house.
3. Listened to Christmas music. Both Amazon and iTunes were offering free downloads of Christmas samplers, so I loaded up my iPod.
4. Made Christmas treats—red velvet cupcakes with peppermint cream cheese frosting, M&M popcorn, and toffee. Toffee is something my mom makes every year, but I've never made it on my own (without her supervision). My first batch was pretty good but not as good as mom's. I'm making several more batches for gifts next week, so hopefully I'll improve. When my siblings and I were little, we loved "helping" mom, by spreading the chocolate on top of the toffee because when we were done we got to lick the spoon. Licking the spoon is still quite fun as an adult. :)
5. Went to a Christmas church program. One of Darby's co-workers was singing in a Christmas program at Twin Cities Bible Church. It was a beautiful program and I love singing Christmas carols. I really wish our church foucsed on Christmas more. It's always so neat when I visit other churches. It's very difficult to focus on the reason for the season when it's barely mentioned at church, the one place you would think you would focus on it.

And, of course, I'm so excited about all of our family Christmas celebrations coming up. It will be kind of a whirlwind trip, but I'm so happy we're able to go and spend time with so many people. We are missing Christmas with my dad's side of the family. :( But, I think 4 Christmases and a baby shower is pretty good for 6 days (including 30 hours of driving)!