Christmas shopping: DONE

My goodness, it's December! And what better way to celebrate than by finishing off our Christmas shopping? We picked out and purchased gifts for Torsten's parents last night, thus completing our list. I now have presents for Torsten, my parents, my sister and her fiance, my sister's soon-to-be-stepkids, and Torsten's parents.

My sister and I are still working on picking out and purchasing joint gifts for a couple mutual friends, but for the most part, we are DONE. And I feel quite pleased about that. Also, I'm very excited about what I'm giving Torsten this year (even though the recliner we purchased is our real gift to each other). I got him a couple of small gifts, as well as an assortment of awesome stocking stuffers, and I can't wait to give them to him.

Also, yesterday I mailed out our holiday cards, and an old lady at the post office even complimented me on getting them out so early. It was sweet, but as I told her, it's our first year sending them out, so of course we're on the ball. It's if/when we mail them out a few years down the road that will REALLY be telling. (Though: perhaps we'll receive holiday cards from people we didn't send them to? In which case, maybe we'll send out a few reciprocal cards a bit later in the month? Is that rude, or a good thing to do?)

AND we bought a gravy boat. I'm feeling very grown up over this. Because, let's face it: only grown-ups use gravy boats. Right? Even if they only cost $8. But it's cute, right? Also, I kind of want the matching pitcher, but we don't need to spend $39 on that right now. Or should I say, more firmly, we need NOT to spend $39 on that right now. Tragically.


I'm feeling good, though. I'm down another few pounds over the last couple of weeks, thus FINALLY ending the jean-size limbo I was in, where every pair of jeans I found was either too big or too small. This weekend Torsten and I went to Old Navy and I found not one but TWO pairs of jeans that fit me perfectly, AND were on super sale, AND I had a coupon, so I ended up making out for super cheap, which is perfect for these transitional sizes where the jeans will only fit for a month or two.

So, you know. Jeans that fit. Holiday cards mailed out. Holiday shopping done. Christmas tree set up. All little things, but they feel really good.

It's just been a good year, you know? I know that 2009 has been very difficult for a lot of people, and that most people are really super ready for the year to be over. And I totally sympathize with that, and feel terrible about all the difficult situations that so many of my friends are facing at the moment.

But, personally, for us, it was such a big year. I can't even believe how far we are now from where we were when this year started, and in such a good way. I just hope that 2010 will be as great for everyone as 2009 was for us.