It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Now that the initial annoyance of not being able to spend Christmas with my family has worn off, I'm getting excited for this holiday season. I know the perfect gift to get for every person on my list, and for once I can afford them all. I decorated the store tonight with tinsel and sparkly Christmas trees. I wrapped presents to put on display, and pinned garland to everything garland can be pinned to. I strung up gift cards to hang from the ceiling, and after 6 hours of decorating, I decided to finally call it a day. I came home to a halfway decorated house, and that was good enough for me. As I ate the home made tamales Mauricio and Letty (my boss and his wife) made for me, I looked around the house and felt at peace. I love this time of year. The decorations, the music, and the overall nature of giving. Even though the next few weeks I will be spending 60-70 or more hours of my time at work, and soon after my family will be leaving, I'm enjoying the moments I get right now. Saturday we are taking Averie to see Santa. Well, this will be round 2. She was a little too frightened to go up to him tonight when my parents took her. Hopefully Saturday goes well, and I will have another Christmas moment to think about while I'm at work these next few weeks. This Christmas won't be perfect, but it's all I need it to be.