Yesterday Michael took me to World Gourmet Foods to pick out part of my Christmas gift from him. It’s been on my list for a long time, so I was excited when the time came to actually make the purchase.
So what did I pick? A basketful of Torani syrups in some of the flavors I’ve been most curious about.  And I found some tea I’ve been wanting, too.

I know I must be different than most gift recipients, because it just tickled me to no end to pick out my gift, bring it home, and then stash it in my room to wait for Christmas.  The anticipation is so much fun.

Michael often worries that he doesn’t do a good enough job at giving me gifts.  Of course, this notion is absurd from the very outset.  But over and over I reassure him that I’m different when it comes to gift giving.  First, it’s not as big of a deal for me as it is for some.  If you are familiar with “The Five Love Languages”, you know that “gifts” is one of the languages.  Its’ not mine.  Sure, I like gifts alright.  But it’s not something that really matters deep down if it doesn’t happen.  (In case you’re curious, my “love language” is “words of affirmation”.  That means it makes my day when Michael says nice things to me.  Even better if he’ll say it again.)

For some years Michael and I have danced the gift dance, with him asking for a wish list, me making a list, him feeling obligated to buy a certain amount of things, and me feeling bad that he feels so obligated.  One year I offered to do the shopping for my own stocking, picking out little things that I would enjoy having.  I must say, that was a blast!  I shopped for the trinkets, and then had just as much fun on Christmas morning as I re-admired each thing that I had picked out.  It was exactly what I wanted.

This year is shaping up nicely.  The pressure for gifts seems quite low, and I’m getting to help pick out some stuff on my list.  I couldn’t be happier.

Today Michael and I took a long drive out into the countryside. We had a few places we wanted to drive by, and it was the perfect day to go looking at houses and properties that we might want to consider buying.

There are so many factors that we are realizing we must consider. Houses that need work tend to be cheaper initially, but they need work. Houses that don’t need work are too expensive. Beautiful pieces of land are so tempting, but the purchase price is only the beginning of the cost of the property as we consider what we might want to build.

I don’t think we came to any great conclusions during our drive today. But we enjoyed each others company, and we have much to think about as we reflect over what we saw.

Should you, Dear Reader, have any thoughts to share with us as we consider the pros and cons of living in town versus in the country, or choosing a nicer house initially versus a “fixer-upper”, we would greatly appreciate your input.

Well, this week has been a strange one for Judah. He was sick all day on Monday with some sort of ailment that left him feverish and achy, but not nauseous at all. Then Tuesday he had made a complete recovery. Wednesday though, he woke up just as sick as he’d been on Monday. Again he was feverish and achy. Today, Thursday, he is back to his normal self. I wish I knew what kind of sickness acts like this. It’s really odd. And no one else has gotten sick yet.

In other news, I am somewhat flummoxed by the fact that Christmas Eve is three weeks from today, and my due date for this next baby is four weeks from today. It all seems too close to be true. Maybe if I slip into a state of denial, that will make it all go away.

Yesterday Judah woke up crying, saying his eye hurt. I could not figure out what was wrong with his eye, so after examining it and using a warm cloth to wipe it off, I tucked him into our bed where he fell fast asleep again.
Judah woke up and fell asleep again many times throughout the day. He said his eye didn’t hurt any more, but he did have a fever, and he sure did sleep a lot.
What was most puzzling about it all was that when Amelia came downstairs, she said her eye was hurting. It was the left eye, same as Judah! But Amelia didn’t really seem to suffer much at all yesterday. She had a slight headache sometimes, but otherwise she had a normal day.
Last night Miguel said his eye was hurting, and again, it was the left eye. So strange! He could have been making it up, I suppose, but when we looked at his eyes, the left one definitely had a darker “circle” under it.
I don’t know what today will bring. Hopefully Judah will feel better. And hopefully Amelia and Miguel won’t be sick. But we’ll see.