Sick as a Dog, Everything Bagels, and Decorating the Tree

Ugh! I'm sick as a dog, and there's no relief in sight. I've been told that this bug is going around and the chain of symptoms begin with a GI situation followed by a cold-like malaise. I definitely had the GI stuff, and now I feel like death warmed over. To top things off, last night when my wife was helping me out by making me something to eat, I stepped on her glasses, destroying them, and then kept her up all night with my flatulence. Can I be a bigger pain in the ass?

Yesterday was quite a chore, and I'm proud of the kids because they really made the day easier for me by taking care of themselves. I probably took three or four naps, and all the while they entertained themselves, and we were indoors the entire day. AND, we managed to get some school work done. Go figure.

We made everything bagels a few days ago, and the kids really enjoy making them. They do a great job, and I have to confess, we are getting the recipe down. They are pretty good, especially when they're fresh out of the oven. And now we don't have to drop $1 a bagel as the Basement. Also, we can make them healthier by using a more multi-grain approach.

The Christmas spirit is in the air. On Sunday we got our tree. We droves Gary's truck down to North Hartland and got it off the guys at Wright's Mill. They have trees out there every year, and usually sell out. Last year we tried to get one there and were too late. They only had Charlie Brown Christmas trees left over, so we ended up going to West Leb, which was fine, as well, because the trees there are local.

It was a lot of fun decorating the tree, and it marks the real beginning of feeling the Christmas spirit. In fact, this is the earliest we've ever obtained and decorated our tree, so we're on top of things. I was impressed with how many decorations we'd collected over the years, and it made for a good time. The kids really too the initiative and did pretty much everything. and they did a nice job. The best was when we did the night time, lighted tree test. That's when the magic of the tree really shines through.


R thought it might be a good time to try taking the annual Christmas photo, and as you can see, she got nowhere with it. The kids were just too excited and having too much fun to take anything too seriously, so she put that project on hold. Now the biggest issue we face is keeping the cats from destroying the tree. They can't seem to resist, and never seem to learn. I know some people think cats are smarter than dogs, but I really doubt it. They don't seem to put two and two together, and seem to make the same mistakes over and over again.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.