Laowai

Since I turned 50 I haven't felt very good. Doesn't that sound awful. I actually caught a bad chest cold during my 50th trip with Brian and up until the past few days I just haven't been able to shake it. I was struggling to keep up with the most basic stuff around the house for so long but now I'm finally feeling better. 

And just in time too. The holidays and all the holiday stuff I enjoy are bearing down on us. 

Look at these cuties – we got to see Jenna a lot around Thanksgiving. Claire and I picked her up from Madison and I think Claire really enjoyed seeing the campus.

Per usual I barely took any photos of our Thanksgiving trip.

I did capture this grandma cuddle with Henry (so sweet).

Grandma Dice's turkey platter is special.

And so is this – the best ornament on my mom's tree. The tree that we set up for the first time in her new apartment. What a big change for mom.  

Right after Thanksgiving we did our annual trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden's Light Scape show. There's Claire and her good friend Marni.

I decorated our Christmas tree.

In the not-fun-holiday-related category Bea took a big scary German test last Friday. So I got to finish my Christmas shopping and kill some time in the city. Test results don't come for quite a while.

I've been fitting in a bit of knitting here and there and I finished this sweater vest yesterday.

I got this yarn at my knitting class's annual yarn dump or yarn exchange – so it was free. I found out that it's about the same age as me – a solid Irish wool. 

So now I'm ready for all the holiday baking and making. And it's gotten cold outside so we can make a fire and really enjoy the cozy season.