It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I've read a few books in the past month. Digging to America was pretty good. I was expecting some sort of plot, but the author, Anne Tyler, writes more about day to day experiences. The book was really well written and I'm amazed how she was able to speak from an immigrant's point of view when she has no first hand experience. I also read Tales from the Crib. The author is from UofM which is why I read the book in the first place. The book is pretty good but she only mentioned AA spots a few times. It was funny when she talked about going to Dominick's or shopping at Middle Earth. But most of it takes place in NJ or NY. There were a few others, but they're not worth mentioning. I joined a book discussion group specifically for a book they are going to discuss in January, which is Time Traveler's Wife. I haven't gone to the other meetings, haha.

All of the Christmas stuff in stores and TV is getting me excited for the holidays! Usually I am just excited about getting a few days off but this time I'm actually excited to celebrate! I think it's because I get to be with my family and we haven't all gotten together since my wedding.

I wrote out Christmas cards to family members from both Matt and I for the first time. It's amazing how many cards have to be sent when two families are combined! And I assume the list will just keep growing with more friends and family added down the road.
Matt and I put up our Christmas tree a few days after Thanksgiving and decorated it with all of Matt's ornaments that he received over the years. My family has theme decorating so one year we'll buy blue and silver tree ornaments/garlands and another year we'll have purple and gold, etc. Our trees always look like they could be on display at Macy's with all the effort we put into it. I told Matt that one year we'll have to do a "designer tree" in the Gupta tradition. But for this year, it's hallmark ornaments. We'll have to get an ornament symbolizing our first Christmas together, awwww. Our tree is so cute. It's small to fit in our apartment space and really easy to store. I don't do real trees, never ever.
I put up my nutcracker on our sofa table. I knew that it would come in handy as a decoration someday. I bought it when I went to see my ballet instructor in the Nutcracker downtown. She's in it every year and I always wished I could be in it when I was young, but you have to start on pointe when you're like 5 to get in.
I usually buy gifts starting very close to Christmas, but because we knew we were buying 80% of them online, I started right after Thanksgiving. Although our Christmas shopping ended a few weeks ago, we're still waiting for 2 packages. Now we have to wrap all of them, oy!

I gotta stop typing and get something to eat. See ya later folks!