2018

As the sun sets on another year, I realize what old is. Old is how fast the days go by. They fly by so fast, yet can be excruciatingly slow at the same time. Then you look up and it's the end of another year.

A year ago we were waiting for the holiday season to be over, hoping that the real estate market would pick up in Georgia. We were packing away the Christmas decorations we'd put up to 'stage' the house just in case someone were to come through. There was no family decorations put up. We'd bought some inexpensive ornaments for the tree to match the decor in the room. (Blah) It looked okay, it just wasn't our traditional decorations.

I didn't even know if we would have room in the town home for a Christmas tree. I was happy to find out there was plenty of room, even with the huge couch we have in there, too. I did retire our old tree and picked up a new one. This one isn't as round and fluffy as the old one. A newer, slimmer tree for the new place. It decorated up nicely, though, with all the family ornaments I could fit on it!

Dayna hadn't seen any of these for a lot of years. I think the last Christmas she was living in the house was in 2005. (How is that possible?)

But this year we celebrated Christmas early. Dayna and Bryan are busy, busy people, so they came up on the 5th of December and we had a fun few days with them here!

 Bryan helped us get things hung on the walls while they were here. He brought up a couple of mounts for the TVs and he and Bill got them hung up on the walls. We ventured out into the stores in search of some decor to add to the place. Bill was encouraged to open a gift early, because we thought it would come in handy hanging things up, but we gave him the wrong one. So he knew what he was getting before anyone else.

 We had a list a mile long of things that needed to be fixed in this newly built place and the dishwasher was one of them. So for the first time in many, many years, the girls washed dishes together. Welcome home, Dayna.

After many months of boxes, packing, unpacking, tearing down, taping again, the dogs weren't too sure about these brightly covered boxes under the tree and the flurry of ripping and tearing them open to see what was in them. They probably think their humans are broken.

They were each happy with their new toys, though.

It didn't take Maddie long to tear hers apart. I think it went in the trash the next day.

We had some time out shopping before Dayna and Bryan headed home. While things are more expensive for us, they're cheaper for them. Everything costs more in California!

As the New Year is upon us, the house is getting more put together. We've gotten rid of a ton of stuff, but I still have a few boxes to empty. I am looking through pictures choosing favorites to print and put up on the walls. I quit hanging things on the walls, because it seemed as soon as I did we would be off and moving again. The walls in the Chandler Bluff house were pretty bare for most of the time we lived there. Bill has been hanging shelves and decor up all over this place for me.

It's taking some time to get used to the noise! We live right next to a pretty busy street and there is traffic noise all the time. Not crazy, but not what we're used to hearing all night long. The street right outside our door is the main road for a lot of ambulances that get dispatched in the area. Maddie will sometimes howl as they go by. It's really cute.

We're not venturing out of the house this New Year's Eve. Downtown will be much too crazy for us. I'm hoping we'll be able to see the fireworks display from the strip, though. They are supposed to be setting them off of several casinos at midnight. We'll have to see if we can see them from the upstairs window.

Then the tree will come down and we'll be ready for the New Year. It is the first winter here for Mary and I. And it has already been getting cold. And really, really windy.

And the Rose Parade. The last time I saw the Rose Parade on west coast time was probably 1995.

Wishing everyone a Blessed and Happy New Year!