First Day Of My Yearly Xmas Vacation
December 7, 2007
Today, I began my annual Christmas vacation. Inevitably, the year has been very busy and I have a hard time taking vacation. Thus, at the end of the year, I always have a bunch of vacation that I have to take or lose. This year wasn’t any different. I haven’t decided if I will be going back to work on the 2nd of January or the 7th.
Things have been heating up at work too and its likely I may have to go in a day or two to work on some new efforts. It’s one of those catch-22 things. I’d rather not go into work, but yet, it would be really nice to land those new efforts. So, we shall see.
Unfortunately, I woke up with a bit of a cold this morning. That’s not exactly the way I wanted to start my vacation. Hopefully, it will be short lived and be long gone by the time Christmas gets here.
Suzanne and the kids are really busy right now. Next Saturday is their Christmas recital for the Alma Dolores International Dance Studio. So most nights and then all day tomorrow will be done rehearsing. It gives me a chance to get some work in on my internet open source project. We are shooting for a Beta release of the next version in January, so I could use the time.
We finally got our Christmas tree and got it up. Next step will be to put some lights on it and decorate it. Suzanne and the kids like to be part of that, but are really busy right now. Maybe we can get to it on Sunday. We are thinking about throwing up a few decorations outside too. Its always a hard decision because living in the country, not many people would see what we do.
We have started looking for travel reservations for the Klasen family reunion in Michigan next June/July, but its not pretty. The lowest priced tickets right now are going for over $425. For four family members, that gets expensive. We also have to go to San Antonio in March for a Pechuls family reunion. They will make for a busy family year. We are still undecided if we will book a cruise next year. We really want to, but have to consider all the other commitments.
Incidentally, doing this post from my new laptop while watching a movie. The movie, Hair Spray, is pretty bad and not very enjoyable. Suzanne and the kids seem to be enjoying but I needed to do something to stay awake.
Christmas Shopping
December 2, 2007
I managed to finish up my Christmas shopping this year this weekend. It did take me about an hour on Friday and then another 2 hours on Saturday. That’s probably more shopping than I do in the course of the rest of the year.
Of course, I took the easy way out and shopped online. I rarely go to the store to shop anymore. Shopping from the comfort of my computer chair is some much easier and relaxing. If I go to a store now, its usually for food. Most things that I buy on the internet are less money than the same product at the physical store. In lots of cases, there is no tax to pay either and shipping can often be free. This Christmas most of my shopping for the kids was done at Walmart, Target and Amazon.
I also had a nice surprise for Suzanne planned, but it has failed. I ordered here a new camera for Christmas to replace the one she lost earlier this year. I picked out the model I wanted and the store I wanted to get it from. I arranged to have it shipped to a neighbors house so she wouldn’t know. The one weak spot in my plan was where to have the confirmation email and any other needed correspondences sent. I would have used my work email, but since I won’t be in the office the rest of the year after Thursday of next week, I was leery about missing something. So, I used my personal email at home that doesn’t go to our normal email inbox. It is auto directed into a personal mailbox for me.
Unfortunately, Suzanne went looking into that email inbox the same day the confirmation emails were sent. Of course, she now knows what she is getting. She was a bit upset herself since it would have been a big surprise to her. I guess I need another private email address not on my machine but solely online for these kinds of things. Not sure I want to go through the hassle though for a once a year deal.
Now, I just have to sit back and wait for the items to arrive and then watch Suzanne wrap them. Thats pretty much how it works for us. I shop online and then she wraps. It may not seem very Christmasy to shop online, but I hate shopping and the crowds and it works for us.
Merry Christmas!
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