Putting Up the Tree

A few family photos while we enjoyed our Christmas tree, as well as some classic Christmas songs on my Smartphone. We'll add the official ornaments tomorrow.

Layton Park Lights

Had a fun little outing with family tonight. As the title denotes, we went to the Layton Park to see the official lighting ceremony, and there was a little concert while we were there. 

We met up with Christine and Joel and their kids, and we strolled around the park together. Josh got lost for a bit but luckily we found him safe and sound, and I kept a gentle grip on Spencer’s hand the whole time. I also held Lucas’s hand to keep him from wandering off. Those little tykes can be very fast and stealthy when they want to be. 

We stopped by Chick-fil-A on the way home, because it was getting late, Mom was tired, and groceries were a bit low. Besides, we love Chick-fil-A; it's delicious, not too expensive, and luckily for Mom, it's diabetic-friendly. The Spicy Chicken Deluxe is my personal favorite.

November Ends, December Begins

Holy smokes, Batman, another month has flown by just like that! And this is the last month of the year, and this is the last year of the decade! I'll say it again: Holy smokes, Batman!

While we're on the subject of November, yes, I have participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) again and I completed the challenge. Admittedly, this is my weakest project yet, with only 55,000 words, and the story itself is nowhere close to being done. But I've kept the streak going and I have at least some idea of where the story is going, so I suppose that will suffice.

(Courtesy of my buddy, Dolphy!)

Work is going great, although the Thanksgiving rush was pretty crazy, and the Christmas rush will be upon us soon enough. Holidays could get crazy at WinCo, too; since WinCo is a supermarket on a larger scale, I imagine they were hit even harder than we were.

But we made a fantastic profit, and Thanksgiving itself was really nice. Nothing fancy, but I like my holidays simple and sweet. We stayed home (given how much snow we've been getting lately, that was just as well) and watched the Macy's parade like we always do. Christine had dinner with Joel's side of the family, but she and her kids did join us for dessert.

As for the food itself, it was excellent. I took the liberty of covering the rolls and the dessert (a chocolate caramel pie and a dozen double fudge brownies), and Kneaders gives me an employee discount, so that was another bonus. I reached that rare, perfect level of fullness, where you're not hungry anymore (and I was saving my appetite throughout the entire day, only snacking very lightly during the parade), and the dishes we used belonged to my grandparents.

And yes, I participated in a little "Black Friday" shopping. I'm not usually one to splurge, but every once in a while I just have to treat myself. Besides, work hours have been good lately, which means pay has been good lately, and I may as well take advantage of a good deal while it's there. I did my shopping online because it's safer and I get more options anyway.

Nothing excessive: just a handful of notebooks and a mini laptop, with a little mouse and stand to go with it. A mini laptop was on my Christmas wish list, but I wasn't sure how expensive they were and I don't want that to be my only gift this year. The laptop I have now is perfectly nice, but I want something a bit more portable, something I could take with me to work or even the library, and I could use it to do some writing in those public places. With the Black Friday deals, plus free shipping due to my Amazon Prime membership, I saved almost $100 on this stuff.

On the side, we have attended a couple of nice concerts at Layton High School, including an "interfaith concert," and we got to see the "flip of the switch" for the Layton City lights. I always get a big thrill out of those dazzling lights. That's always been one of my favorite things about Christmas: the bright colors amid the winter darkness.

So, yeah, that's all I've got to say for this blog, apart from goodbye to November and hello to December.

Let's make this month a good one and end this year (and decade) on a positive note, shall we, mates? Tally-ho!